Pizza Stone

[Mirrorball]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm going to try to put the stone on the top shelf of the oven on Sunday and if it doesn't work, I'm going to buy a new stone.

[scott123]

Sounds good.

One more thing I just thought of. You are preheating your oven sufficiently, correct? If you have less than a 1/2" stone I'd say a minimum of 25 minutes.

[Mottmott]

I had problems with oil, cheese, etc. melting into my stone and the resulting fumes.

Started sliding the pizza off the peel onto a sheet of tin foil, which was then lifted onto the hot stone.

I'm sure I'll get some objections to this - but I've really not noticed any difference in the quality of the crust since adopting this method.

I use foil (or parchment paper) on the stone all the time and see no difference other than not having a lot of gunk on my stone or cindered nubbins of cornmeal.

You might find transferring the pizza easier if you put the foil on the peel and then slid it onto the stone. Actually, though I have a peel, I usually just use a cookie sheet. After all, it's not as though I'm putting it into a deep wood oven.

I also like using the stone for at least part of the time I bake pie crusts. especially the rustic ones that aren't baked in a pan.

[mrsadm]

Liza's suggestion of keeping it in the oven all the time is astute--it helps everything bake better--by either evening the heat out or concentrating it, depending on what you need.  The more you move the stone, the more likely it will be to break.  Just leave it in.

When you say "leave it in the oven" should it be on the lowest rack on on the actual bottom of the oven?

[scott123]

Liza's suggestion of keeping it in the oven all the time is astute--it helps everything bake better--by either evening the heat out or concentrating it, depending on what you need.  The more you move the stone, the more likely it will be to break.  Just leave it in.

When you say "leave it in the oven" should it be on the lowest rack on on the actual bottom of the oven?

In a gas oven, your stone goes on the bottom of the oven.

In electric, the bottom shelf.

[AlexP]

I made a few pizzas the other day using Slkinsey’s dough recipe. I am sorry, but I cannot find the thread with his recipe at the moment. (I will edit post once I find link)

Anyway, the recipe and tips are great, and the results were good for being my first time attempting pizzas. I do have a couple of questions that I would appreciate if somebody could answer:

- How ahead in advance could I prepare the pizzas before baking? 5, 15, 30, 45 minutes... If we are talking about 30 min for example, do I refrigerate?

- I have an electrical convention oven. The first attempt was done at a friend's house with a regular oven. Should I use my convention feature at home?

- As other people in this thread, I have problems transferring the pizzas to the oven. I do not have a peel. Any opinions on putting the pizzas on parchment paper and slide them into the stone with some flour to help the pizzas slide? Could this work? I will test the process, but if somebody has done it before I would appreciate any feedback. (I know that this question might sound stupid, but I have to ask…)

Thanks a lot.

Alex

[tommy]

- As other people in this thread, I have problems transferring the pizzas to the oven. I do not have a peel. Any opinions on putting the pizzas on parchment paper and slide them into the stone with some flour to help the pizzas slide? Could this work? I will test the process, but if somebody has done it before I would appreciate any feedback. (I know that this question might sound stupid, but I have to ask…)

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try an edgeless cookie sheet if you have one.

[hjshorter]

I second the edgeless cookie sheet, with cornmeal sprinkled on the bottom. You can make up the pizzas ahead of time, but I always have a problem with the dough starting to contract a little and squishing the toppings if the pizzas sit around for a bit.

I don't recommend sliding parchment onto your pizza stone.

[snowangel]

Yes, to the edgeless cookie sheet. That's what I have and use.

But, why did my pizza stone crack? Need to replace it. The cracked one is round. Should I go square?

[LNorman]

I've been using parchment paper in the shape of my stone because my electric oven burns the edges. I bake the pizza on the parchment paper. I don't have a peel and cornmeal never works for me. I read about this trick in Cook's Illustrated and it allows me to really heat up the stone. I'm still working on getting the paper out after the crust is stiff enough.

[Dana]

I am on my second stone, both have cracked. I just push the pieces together tightly and go for it!! I leave it in the oven all the time to help the the seriously uneven heat in my 30? year old electric oven.

[Anna N]

...

- As other people in this thread, I have problems transferring the pizzas to the oven. I do not have a peel. Any opinions on putting the pizzas on parchment paper and slide them into the stone with some flour to help the pizzas slide? Could this work? I will test the process, but if somebody has done it before I would appreciate any feedback. (I know that this question might sound stupid, but I have to ask…)

Thanks a lot.

Alex

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This is my solution to a make-shift peel: I use a 14 inch splatter screen, cover it with parchment paper that I twist around the handle of the screen and can hang on to while I slide the pizza off and into the oven. The parchment paper stays on the screen and the pizza slides right off.

[scott123]

I am on my second stone, both have cracked. I just push the pieces together tightly and go for it!! I leave it in the oven all the time to help the the seriously uneven heat in my 30? year old electric oven.

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Are you still baking breads/pizza directly on the stone?

[tommy]

i've mine for probably 2 years now and it has never cracked. it's either luck of the draw, or you're touching it. i've barely touched mine in that time.

Edited September 21, 2004 by tommy (log)

[marie-louise]

I make pizza all the time. I bake it on a stone placed on the bottom rack in a gas (Wolf) convection oven that's been preheated to 500 for an hour. I make the pizza on a piece of parchment, and slide the pizza onto the stone w/ a wooden peel. Sometimes I pull the parchment out from under the pizza after a few minutes (a la yanking the tablecloth but leaving the dishes trick) but I don't usually bother. Yeah, the edges of the parchment burn but so what.

As for the pizza stone cracking, I have had several cheaper ones break over the years. The one I have now I got at Williams-Sonoma years -maybe 7 or 8 years- ago. It is thicker (1/2-inch thick). It's an example of the expensive item being cheaper in the long run, I guess.

[AlexP]

Thanks for the replies.

The dough recipe by Slkinsey can be found in this thread: Pizza Crust Blah

Anybody besides Marie-Louise uses a convention oven? Any other opinions on this regard?

Also another question, please.... I purchased All Purpose Unbleached flour. The first time that I tried the recipe I used All Purpose Bleached flour. Should I keep using bleached flour or unbleached would be better?

After today I will not have Internet access, but I will post my results next week, since I will be baking a few pizzas for a party this Saturday.

Once again I will appreciate any comments.

Thanks

Alex

Edited September 23, 2004 by AlexP (log)

[phaelon56]

Yes, to the edgeless cookie sheet.  That's what I have and use.

But, why did my pizza stone crack?  Need to replace it.  The cracked one is round.  Should I go square?

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The thicker ones usually come ina rectangular shape. I had a Williams-Sonoma 1/2" thick stone for four or five years. It never broke until I gave it to my brother. He pulled it out of the oven when it was still hot. I suspect the thermal shock of hitting room temp air was a factor. My current stone was acquired at an Italian specialty grocer - I suggest looking for one. They will usually have 3/4" thick stones for about $30 - $35 - well worth it.

Like Tommy's, my stone rarely moves. I leave it in the oven all the time.

For those without a peel.... get a peel. A Best Kitchen sells them really cheap on-line but best to try a local restaurant supply house first.

Also - if you're really tryign to replicate the true Neopolitan style it's advisabel to follow slkinsey's recipe - it really works. I like to add a bit of olive oil, a spoonful of honey and about 1/4 extra fine golden durum (semolina) flour to my dough but I'm looking for a different texture than the true Neopolitan style. Regardless... I don't live in the NYC area anymore and find that my pizza at home is better than anything I can buy out in a pizza shop locally.

[AlexP]

Well, I cooked several pizzas on Saturday. The crust did not come out as good as the first time. One issue could have been the pizza stone. I tried to get something at Home Depot but they sent me to restaurant supply stores... I ended buying a pizza stone at Target. I was thinner that the stone I used previously. In addition, the dough was really sticky compare to the first time. I wonder if using Unbleached flour had anything to do with it...

The trick using a cookie sheet did not work out that well, however I only used flour since I did not have any cornmeal.

Anyway, people did enjoy the pizzas and I will continue using Slkinsey's recipe. I actually can't wait to make them again. They are fun.

Alex

[marie-louise]

Alex

Did you preheat the oven for an hour? It makes a difference.

[AlexP]

Yes, I had the oven on at around 375 degrees for more than 1 1/2 hours (I was cooking something else) with the pizza stone in it before I increased the temperature to 550 degrees for another probably 30 minutes before I started cooking the pizzas.

Maybe I should have had the oven at 550 degrees for an hour....

Alex

[halland]

I did a batch of 6 pizzas over the weekend. I'm using unglazed quarry tiles (four 8"x8" tiles, about 5/8" thick). I have the tiles on the oven rack in the very bottom level. I then have another layer of tiles on a rack set about 4" above the bottom rack.

I've noticed two things about my oven. If I turn the temp knob past 550 I can go a little bit more before the temp cuts out and goes over to the Clean setting. In this position, and with 2 1/2 hours of pre-heating at this setting I can get my oven up to 600F!

I started baking the pizzas about 1.5 hours into the heating cycle, and the first few pizzas (all Naples style) were still a bit floppy in the center. The last 3 (this is after 2.5 hours) were perfectly crisp and had the same degree of char on the bottom as on the crust. Baking time is about 6 minutes. All ingredients are at room temp.

I should also mention I got the tiles from a recycled home materials store, and paid $0.60 each for the tiles.

Hal

[EdS]

Any reason not to use a material other than ceramic tiles, such as cast-iron? For example, Lodge make a pizza pan. I would think that cast-iron would soak up more heat than stone given a similar thickness. Even better would be some sort of copper slab. Hmm, like from 10,000 melted down old copper pennies.

Edited December 9, 2004 by esvoboda (log)

[scott123]

Ed, this is only a theory, but I think that the porosity of the stone wicks away moisture faster than iron would.

[deltadoc]

I've had my square pizza stone for over 10 years. I take it out of the oven only when it's cooled completely off. Every 4-5 times I make pizza, I use the self clean feature to make the stone like new. (Brush off the ashes before re-using!)

I roll out my pizza dough which I make in the bread machine. 1 lb of bread flour, some salt, 1-2 Tbsp honey, 2-3 tbsp olive oil, cap ful of yeast, water. (For fun, you can add coarse black pepper, or fennel seeds into the dough) There's enough dough for two nice pizzas, one gets cooked right away, the other goes on a flat cookie sheet into the freezer where it lifts off quite easily.

I roll it out on the corian countertop, sprinkle corn meal on the peel, lay the thin dough on the peel, paint the dough with olive oil using a paint brush, add sauce, add meat, add parmesan, add low moisture mozzarella which I processed in my Robot Coupe.

Sometimes I also add a little bit of goat cheese here and there too. I make sure that I don't fully cover the entire surface of the pizza with cheese as I want moisture to be able to evaporate off the cooking pizza, and a full covering of cheese seems to defeat that purpose. It seems to act like a shroud.

Painting the dough with olive oil prevents the sauce from making the crust soggy. Also, before painting the olive oil on, you can use a fork to punch fork holes (like in a pie crust) into the pizza dough.

I preheat the oven to 550 F for at least 1 hour.

Pizza takes about 12 minutes, is perfect on the bottom, and perfect all the way through. I've tried various sauces, including recipes, and settled on Muir Glen Organic Pizza Sauce. Thick, spicy, just right!

doc

Edited December 9, 2004 by deltadoc (log)

[EdS]

Ed, this is only a theory, but I think that the porosity of the stone wicks away moisture faster than iron would.

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That sounds like a very good reason.