Wooden Pizza Peels - To Sand or Not

[WhollyStromboli]

Hey gang,

Should a wooden pizza peel be sanded smooth, or left with a slight rough finish as it comes from the factory?

Initial thought would be yes, however, sometimes smooth on smooth surfaces actually increase friction (think race car slicks for example smooth on smooth = sticky, or downhill skis which are not smooth, but have some texture on the bottom to reduce friction). So, what has your experience been? Do you use peels as they come or sand them down?

Thanks,
Eric

 

[GotRocks]

Ya know, I just had my builder ask me if I could sand down the building peels for him, he said he is getting splinters when placing it in its storage between uses spot.
I had him grab a new green 3M scuff pad and had him smooth out the edges that are biting him so no more splinters.

Other than that, I have never done anything to a peel before use.

To clean them, we just use a dough knife/table scraper to scrape it down when needed, we dust our building/launching peels with semolina to get the dough to slide into the oven easier, We did use corn meal for a while, but the burning and smoke generated by it was obnoxious, we found that the semolina isn’t as acrid if the oven does not get brushed immediately after each pie comes out and it burns.