Marble Pizza Stone?

[pax]

I don't have a pizza stone, I have been meaning to pick up some of the unglazed Mexican tiles to use instead, on the oven floor.

I haven't done that yet, of course, and here it is Sunday afternoon, and my kids are requesting pizza.

I can do it the way I've always done it, on a pierced metal sheet, which has been ok thus far...

But...in my pantry, I have 8 12"x12" black marble square tiles. They match my countertops.

What happens if you put marble in the oven?

It's a Jenn Air convection oven, just in case that makes a difference.

My husband thinks I'm a nut.

[sparrowgrass]

Here is a whole discussion on the topic.

Me--I would wrap them in aluminum foil, and use them.

If they crack, will you be devastated?

[pax]

No, I won't be devasted. They've been sitting on the bottom of my pantry for a year taking up valuable real estate.

I think I'll give it a shot and see what happens.

Thanks for that link, it was interesting reading. Patrick never did report in his results so I guess I'll have to do so.

Cheers.

[wallchef]

I've place marble in a commercial convection oven to slightly warm for serving canapes at larger tables and left them in for a good while and I've never had one crack. I think it'd work fine.

[pax]

So I am here to report!

Sadly, I could not arrange my tiles in such a way that I could cook the pizza directly on them. Instead, I used two, and put them on the bottom rack, and two more, and put them on the top rack, and then in addition I preheated my cheap metal pizza pan, right on the marble on the bottom rack. I pre-heated for an hour.

The only difference I noted was that the middle of my crust didn't get as done as the edges, which was a flaw.

The oven did not seem to recover temp any more quickly than normal.

I won't bother with this again, but, the good news is, the marble, which is 1/2 inch thick, did not crack after an hour + in a 500 F oven.

I am, however, encouraged to go out and get something that fits the oven correctly, and try again.

[dougal]

So I am here to report! 

Sadly, I could not arrange my tiles in such a way that I could cook the pizza directly on them. Instead, I used two, and put them on the bottom rack, and two more, and put them on the top rack, and then in addition I preheated my cheap metal pizza pan, right on the marble on the bottom rack. I pre-heated for an hour.

The only difference I noted was that the middle of my crust didn't get as done as the edges, which was a flaw.

The oven did not seem to recover temp any more quickly than normal.

I won't bother with this again, but, the good news is, the marble, which is 1/2 inch thick, did not crack after an hour + in a 500 F oven.

I am, however, encouraged to go out and get something that fits the oven correctly, and try again.

←

Not sure that putting the pizza in the pan, on plural (maybe not exactly level) tiles.

Using any sort of stone/brick isn't going to make much difference unless your pan - or better your pizza itself - sits in intimate contact (or at least absolutely flat) on the stone/brick.

The idea is that you *conduct* lots of heat (by contact) into the pizza base, rather than get the oven air back up to heat quickly (which is what the thermometer/thermostat is probably detecting). And with a thick stone, you have enough stored heat that the pizza doesn't chill the stone very much...

Anyway, contact is important! And a (dented?) "cheap metal pan" is unlikely to help.

About thermal stresses: rate of heating and cooling matters (and slapping a cold pizza on a hot stone makes for a rapid local change) because the heating and cooling is not even throughout the stone, which is what leads to the stresses.

"Defects" (like cracks, changes in composition, etc) act as what engineers call "stress concentrators" - focusing the forces, making the stresses around the defect much greater than elsewhere in the item.

So something that works today, might not be so satisfactory tomorrow, if you happened to scratch it. Or if a small crack becomes big enough to be significant...

I know marble slabs are used for chilling hot toffee, so its probably not too appalling for thermal shock *heating*, but that may not mean too much for thermal shock cooling (cold pizza dough remember). Cooling is going to mean contraction, putting it in tension, and generally stone has poor tensile strength...

There are better materials, I think. And probably they are generally cheaper...

Last comment - about "something that fits the oven correctly".

Don't block air circulation in the oven! (You need the air to be able to move to spread the heat evenly)

So make sure you leave a gap all round whatever stone/brick/tile you get.

I'd suggest maybe 1.5 inches minimum each side, front and back.

Only exception I can think of might be if you happened to have an electric oven with (top and) bottom heat (rather than side elements or a fan)

[Anna N]

Correct me if I am wrong but I thought that part of the advantage of using a pizza stone (or unglazed tiles) is that both are porous and hence absorb excess moisture from the dough and ensure a crispy bottom.

I can't see how marble would have this effect. Am I totally wrong in this assumption?

[dougal]

Correct me if I am wrong but I thought that part of the advantage of using a pizza stone (or unglazed tiles) is that both are porous and hence absorb excess moisture from the dough and ensure a crispy bottom.

I can't see how marble would have this effect.  Am I totally wrong in this assumption?

←

I've often seen this in print too.

Yet I can crisp things effectively in a dry cast iron skillet - which isn't exactly porous...

Unless the temperature falls to below 100C (212F) - which we really don't want or expect - there shouldn't be any moisture to be absorbed into those pores.

We want it to be turned to steam as fast as possible by the heat.

And stone (pizza stone even) seems just as draught-proof as cast iron (stone is not really very vapour permeable at about atmospheric pressure).

Surely the much easier ways out for the steam are up and (especially) sideways?

The important thing must be to have enough heat reserve to flash off that steam (as steam) effectively.

I think there are likely better reasons for the (likely wise) advice to avoid glazed tiles...

[pax]

Ok people, relax!

I was just fooling around in the kitchen, not conducting grand experiments. I was just thrilled the dang things didn't explode in there so my husband could say, "Darling, you really ARE a nut."

There are lots of better ways to do it, I know that.

My kids stopped screaming for pizza, which was a good enough result to be going on with.