IHHS Trend Part One – Pizza Cutters

While at the International Home and Housewares show in Chicago, I noticed a couple of trends which were note worthy.

As I went from booth to booth, the first trend I kept hearing was that companies want to help people save money in these tough times by providing good tools to make cooking at home easier. Oddly enough, the tool they kept talking about was a pizza slicer. I know…right?

This conversation occurred at more than one booth and from more than one company and I doubt there were conspiratorial meetings on the subject. Making pizza at home is one way to save money and a pizza slicer is an inexpensive way to start people thinking about homemade pizza.

There are 3 basic things one needs to make pizza from scratch…an oven, a means to take the pizza in and out of the oven and a device with which to cut the pizza. And yes, I know that pizza in Italy is served unsliced, but this is America, so we have pizza slicers at home.

Pizza slicers are small, relatively inexpensive and not as one dimensional as you might think.

What makes a good pizza slicer?

They are basic tools in concept but manufacturers seem to have such diverse philosophies about their design. You want weight, a good edge and a large wheel.

Style

Pizza cutters come in the classic wheel with handle, the palm style, which looks like a wheel without a handle and the giant rocker blade or knife style.

I prefer the basic wheel blade on a handle, because it is easy to store, easy to use and just seems more intuitive.

The best styles have a large wheel blade, one that is at least 3.5″ – 4″ across. Small wheel pizza cutters will work fine with thin crust pizzas without getting toppings in the wheel pin, but a large wheel will cut all sizes of pizza.

Pizza rockers or knives are great if you need to slice multiple pies very quickly, but for most of us, a wheel is more than sufficient. I used a rocker style when working in a pizzeria and it was great for making those fast bang, bang, bang cuts. It was also easy to wipe clean with a towel so I could keep firing away at the pizzas. The rocker style also requires a bit of practice to get the technique down right. If you have a good solid pizza wheel, you can slice more than quickly enough for home use even if you make 2 or more pizzas for your family or friends.

Sharpness

You don’t want a pizza sharpener to be too sharp, like a chef knife. If it is too sharp not only would it be unsafe but the blade would dull quickly. It only needs to be sharp enough to break the crust cleanly and slice any toppings. The sharpness is more about the edge angle than an actual honed or polished edge.

Materials

The handles are typically made from a combination of plastic, metal and sometimes wood. The blades will find be of various materials such as plastic, metal and Richlite (a wood fiber composite).

I am fond of the metal blades. They clean up as well as the other materials and are generally dishwasher safe. The plastic blades are often listed as “non-stick”, as if cheese and sauce sticks less to plastic than to stainless steel. These plastic or polycarbonate blades are more prone to chipping and cracking.

Richlite products, like Epicurean, are presently only available in the long rocker style blade. This material is similar in feel to plastic even though it is a combination of polymers and wood fibers. It will work just fine but isn’t really “better” than metal.

Size

I like a heavy, solid cutter that will easily break the crust and roll smoothly over the pizza. You want it to feel good in your hand, just like a knife. You want to hit the pizza with one swift downward motion and move non-stop to the other side. Small, light weight, inexpensive models may not cut well or all the way through the crust cleanly. They are inexpensive for a reason; sturdy, long lasting construction is not one of them.

Care and Cleaning

Cleaning is easy, particularly if you rinse the cutter almost immediately after use. Like any tool, if you let food cool/dry on, it will be more difficult to clean. Even though most pizza cutters are dishwasher safe, I don’t recommend it. The metal can rust and you risk chipping the cutting blades.

Like most people, I store my pizza wheel in a drawer. There are those who like to hang kitchen tools from bars or hooks. Most pizza cutters will have some form of hole for storing the cutter in such a manner. Just be aware, not all will lie flat against the wall, like the KitchenAid I own. The pizza rockers more challenging to store due to their length and shape.

Let’s look at the varied landscape of shapes & styles available.

The Palm Style

The two that fit in this category are the best of their kind. The Zyliss pizza wheel is well made, opens easily to clean and cuts very well.

If I were to use a non-standard pizza cutter, I would use the Microplane cutter. It has a handle that allows your hand to stay away from the action and gives you the ability to generate more pressure for a clean cut. The Microplane also comes apart easily to clean thoroughly.

I am not fond of the palm style generally, but it is simply a personal issue of hand feel.

The Classic Wheel with handle

I have owned a Kitchenaid classic wheel style model for 14 years. The thing I like about it is that it has good weight & heft with a nice handle and wide solid blade that makes easy work of any pizza. It also comes with a blade cover that protects it from nicks and damage in a tool drawer. As I mentioned earlier, I prefer the metal blades for their shape and durability.

The other brands I like in the metal line are OXO, who makes two styles of metal cutters. The first style has a good size blade and a non-slip handle. The other style also has a metal blade and a brushed stainless handle.

Mario Batali also has a stainless steel pizza wheel that performs very well. It has a solid feel and a soft grip handle for ease of use.

There is another company that I think can only be purchased online called Dexter. They make a 5″ wheel that is solid, sturdy and is very effective. Additionally, the company sells replacement wheels so that if the blade is damaged, you don’t need to replace the whole cutter.

I like the design and style of the Rosle pizza wheel. This model does cut very well, but I would prefer a larger wheel and thicker handle.

If you are into the plastic/polycarb styles, OXO and Mario Batali brands have two good versions. (Note: all Mario Batali products are made by Copco, a subdivision of Wilton. You may see them branded as Copco or Wilton).

And if you just don’t make pizza that frequently and don’t want to spend $15 – $30 on a good cutter, you can always buy this one from Messermeister or a more basic model.

Rocker Style

The rocker blades, while made for quick work, take some practice. If you make pizzas greater than 14″ in diameter, the blade may require an additional cut after the initial pass to get it completely across the length of the pie. Most pizza peels sold for the home aren’t wider than 14″ anyway, but to counter this, you can buy longer cutters (up to 20″) online or in true restaurant supply stores. As I said before, if you are making and cutting many pizzas rapid fire, then the rocker style blades are for you. Of course, maybe you just like the style or have pleasant memories from your pizzeria days. They do have more limited uses due to their design. You may see one handed models but don’t be fooled; they aren’t very effective or well made. If you are going big, go with the 2-handed style.

My favorite is the one from LamsonSharp. It has a great solid blade, good handles on each side. It is fast, effective and will make short work of as many pizzas as you can bake. They also make a 20″ version for you makers of large pizzas.

Another well made pizza rocker is from Charcoal Companion. It is called Pizza Que. It has a solid blade, a decent grip and will also cut very fast and effectively.

Other than variety in design, there is nothing more to say about the pizza rockers. American Metal Crafters, Dexter and others make fine pizza rockers.

Epicurean, the makers of the Richlite cutting boards, has introduced a pizza cutter. It is the rocker style cutter and seems to cut just fine, however the grip isn’t very secure, making it difficult to stabilize. I like the material and want to like the cutter, but also want a better grip. As it is very new, the only place it can be purchased is directly from Epicurean. This should change as the year progresses.

Mario Batali has a rocker style pizza cutter. It is however a plastic/polycarb model that doesn’t feel very solid and won’t last that long. Of all the rocker style cutters, it has the poorest feel. But if you are a big Mario fan, you may be interested anyway so click and buy.

Other Uses

With the exception of rocker blades, you can use pizza wheels as pasta and pastry cutters. You can also use them to cut brownies, focaccia, fritattas, tarts – you name it. Just about any food that lays flat and needs to be sliced.

Summary

So make pizza at home – it saves money and tastes better. What better place to begin than with a good pizza cutter. Remember almost any pizza cutter will work, but if you are going to make pizzas frequently, buy a better model. Value priced cutters won’t last very long.

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