Pizza/Baking Stones in NYC

[wannabechef]

Does anyone know of a good place in the city to find an inexpensive pizza or baking stone? I'm also interested in picking up some other baking supplies such as a peel, etc. I know there are a hundred places on the Bowery but I found a bunch of those to be pretty pricey. What's your favorite spot for these types of supplies? I also read that it's possible to pick up some tiles or stones at a place like Home Depot which could do the trick. If that's the case, what exactly should I look for?

Thanks!

~WBC

[bpearis]

Alton Brown reccomends just buying a 12x12 unglazed quarry tile. I'm sure you could get for cheap at home depot, probably under $10.

[slkinsey]

Try Bridge Kitcheware, Zabar's or Broadway Panhandler.

What is your idea of "cheap?"

BTW, depending on what you want to cook on it, I don't like AB's idea. You don't want to be sliding a wet pizza crust onto a bunch of quarry tiles and have them slide apart or have some of the crust stick in the cracks between tiles.

[bpearis]

Try Bridge Kitcheware, Zabar's or Broadway Panhandler.

What is your idea of "cheap?"

BTW, depending on what you want to cook on it, I don't like AB's idea. You don't want to be sliding a wet pizza crust onto a bunch of quarry tiles and have them slide apart or have some of the crust stick in the cracks between tiles.

I think the idea was to buy one big one. Home depot sells them as big as 12x12.

[wannabechef]

Try Bridge Kitcheware, Zabar's or Broadway Panhandler.

What is your idea of "cheap?"

BTW, depending on what you want to cook on it, I don't like AB's idea. You don't want to be sliding a wet pizza crust onto a bunch of quarry tiles and have them slide apart or have some of the crust stick in the cracks between tiles.

Yeah, I saw that Alton Brown show where he recomended the quarry tiles. I agree that it doesn't seem to be too practical - unless I could find one large enough to cover the oven.

As for what's inexpensive, I don't really know. I looked around online a bit and found them to be mainly around $30 for a square stone which would cover the dimensions of my oven. If I buy it online, I'll probably also have to pay an additonal $10 for shipping. That's why I was thinking of going to a local store instead. Is $30 the right price for something like that?

I may check out Broadway Panhandler.

Thanks for the suggestions!

~WBC

[bushey]

I've used tiles before and found that they worked really well. We had some leftover from the floor of our sunporch and 4 fit really well on the rack of our oven (I forget what size the tiles were). We mostly make individual size pizzas, so cracks weren't a problem, but if your large pizza dough is too wet/slippery to fit on four abutting tiles, it may not be the tiles that are the problem .

Over the years I've gotten kind of lazy and now just use pizza screens with excellent results in a really hot oven.

If you do go to Home Depot for tiles, pick up a large marble tile for kneading and rolling the dough. Works wonders.

[phaelon56]

The one Williams-Sonoma sells is 14"x16" rectangular. If you make a standard size batch of pizza dough and split to make two thin crust pizzas, this size stone is just big enough to hold the pie comfortably with a bit of room around the edges. WS sells it for $29 online. I'm no big fan of theirs and think they are usually overpriced but I received mine as a gift. What I have noticed is that the WS stone is thicker than the cheapo round pizza stones that all the mass market retailers like K-mart sell these days (and theirs are usually around $20). I know at least one person whose cheapo stone broke in normal use. Mine has been through plenty and is still holding up nicely. I'm also guessing that thicker=more thermal mass - always a good thing when baking and looking focr consistency of heat delivery.

[slkinsey]

I have made this suggestion before on similar threads, but here goes: a cheap/superior alternative to a pizza stone is to measure the base of your (gas) stove, then go to your local supplier of building stone and get them to cut you a piece of soapstone that is ~1" smaller in width and depth. Huge heat sink. Can't be beat for pizza.

[Richard Kilgore]

You can get 6X6 inch unglazed tiles at Home Depot for about 75 cents each. (They are gray or red. When I told the sales guy what I wanted to use tiles for, he knew exactly what I was talking about and led me to them.) I use six of them on the bottom rack of my oven and leave them there. I have not done a pizza yet on it, but it works fine for other things. You can wrap aluminum foil over it if you're woried about cleaning the tiles. I would think that if you use cornmeal on your peel or cutting board that you use as a peel, it should work fine. The tiles are also great at holding heat when you have to open the oven door to check something.