I use an aluminum peel for transferring the pizza, but because I’m an amateur, I use parchment for transferring. I build the pizza directly on the parchment, slide the whole she-bang on to the peel, and transfer the whole she-bang on to the stone, parchment and all. It slides right off the peel.
In theory and if you’re looking for the heat of baking directly on the stone, after a couple of minutes you could lift one end of the pizza and yank the parchment out from underneath, but I’ve never felt a need to. I preheat my stone for an hour or so, and find it gets plenty hot to cook the bottom nicely even with the parchment.
I tried using cornmeal directly on the peel (no parchment) but never was able to master it.
I make it on parchment on a large baking sheet, then slide it off on to the stone. When it’s ready to come out, grab an edge of the parchment and slide it back on to the baking sheet.
Have you thought about a pizza screen?? I get nice results building on this screen and the whole thing goes into the oven. It’s also easier to turn the pizza, as my oven heats unevenly.
