Baking / Pizza stones

[Abra]

I need a new stone, my old one having expired after about 10 years by accidentally having some plastic melted onto it. By which I mean a LOT of plastic. Even though I put it through the self-clean cycle a few times, it always had an acrid smell. So it's outta here and I'm shopping for a new one.

I don't see an ultra-heavy one for sale anywhere near me - does anyone have a reliable online source for the very heavy rectangular kind?

[Seitch]

Does the stone have to be of a certain type?  I have some left over travertine 18"X18" and I think one of those would fit in the oven, so could I use that?

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I'm not positive about travertine, but I seem to recall that it's more porous than something like quarry stone. Is it glazed or sealed in any way? You definitely want to avoid anything with a coating on it, as you can't be sure if the coating is food safe or not.

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It's not glazed or sealed. Just polished. Hardly any filling as well. It's pretty much solid limestone.

[hummingbirdkiss]

In addition to keeping one in the oven, I have another one I use on the gas grill, which makes great pizza and flat bread at 500+ degrees - just make sure not to put a cold stone on a hot grill, as it may crack.

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with this work I wonder with the quarry tiles? this is a perfectly wonderful idea!!!!

I am off work on Wednesday and plan to go shopping for the quarry tile first to see if it works for me ...I love the way the price of it sounds for starting out especially!

do I have to do anything to the tiles before putting them in the oven and now on my grill?

or just wipe them off and start baking???

this gives me such a carrot to chase during this work week (I am a nurse and it is flu season simple things please me!!!)

Edited February 19, 2007 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[Smithy]

I need a new stone, my old one having expired after about 10 years by accidentally having some plastic melted onto it.  By which I mean a LOT of plastic.  Even though I put it through the self-clean cycle a few times, it always had an acrid smell.  So it's outta here and I'm shopping for a new one.

I don't see an ultra-heavy one for sale anywhere near me - does anyone have a reliable online source for the very heavy rectangular kind?

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Abra, I picked up a heavy-duty baking stone from Williams-Sonoma last year. It's nearly an inch thick and seems a bit more durable than the first cheapo I bought a few years ago and promptly cracked the first time I tried to steam bread. Here's their current online offer. Without having specific measurements I can't tell you for sure that it's the same stone as mine, but it's about the same price.

Does the stone have to be of a certain type?  I have some left over travertine 18"X18" and I think one of those would fit in the oven, so could I use that?

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I'm not positive about travertine, but I seem to recall that it's more porous than something like quarry stone. Is it glazed or sealed in any way? You definitely want to avoid anything with a coating on it, as you can't be sure if the coating is food safe or not.

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It's not glazed or sealed. Just polished. Hardly any filling as well. It's pretty much solid limestone.

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Do you really want to put bread or pizza dough directly on hot limestone? Won't the steam cause a bit of etching on the stone and affect your food?

[phaelon56]

I had a rectangular 1/2" thick stone from Williams-Sonoma for years and was content with it but just had to try a 3/4" thick stone when I spotted one at my local Italian imports store. They carry the Villaware brand and I've been quite pleased with mine. I think the extra thickness makes a difference in the consistency of my results but that's a totally unscientific observation.

My brother inherited my other stone but cracked it by taking it in and out of the oven too many times and subjectting it to the heat stress of rapid temperature change. Mine stays in the bottom of the oven at all times - the very bottom below the lowest rack.

On rare occasions I take it out (at room temp when the oven has been off) and srub it with a stiff brush and water. It looks like heck from all the burned bits of this and that but works great.

My primary application is for pizza - for that reason I'd opt for the round next time but Amazon has both the round and rectangular at good prices with free two day shipping:

round Villlaware pizza stone

rectangular Villaware pizza stone

[Seitch]

Do you really want to put bread or pizza dough directly on hot limestone?  Won't the steam cause a bit of etching on the stone and affect your food?

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I don't know, that's why I'm asking. If bread were to etch limestone, wouldn't it also etch these other stones people are using?

[insomniac]

I use a kiln shelf I got from a local potters....very cheap and effective

[scubadoo97]

I use a kiln shelf I got from a local potters....very cheap and effective

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kilns are usually made from firebrick.

[iguana]

If bread were to etch limestone, wouldn't it also etch these other stones people are using?

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Different stones have different chemical structures. Limestone is calcium carbonate and more reactive, especially to anything acid. If you ever go to an old cemetery, compare the marble monuments to the granite ones after many years of exposure to acid rain. Also, different stones will react differently to being repeatedly heated and cooled. I would stick with quarry tiles or a bona fide baking stone, which are likely silica- or clay-based (I think) and therefore non-reactive.

[Seitch]

If bread were to etch limestone, wouldn't it also etch these other stones people are using?

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Different stones have different chemical structures. Limestone is calcium carbonate and more reactive, especially to anything acid. If you ever go to an old cemetery, compare the marble monuments to the granite ones after many years of exposure to acid rain. Also, different stones will react differently to being repeatedly heated and cooled. I would stick with quarry tiles or a bona fide baking stone, which are likely silica- or clay-based (I think) and therefore non-reactive.

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Thanks for the info Iguana.

[insomniac]

I use a kiln shelf I got from a local potters....very cheap and effective

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kilns are usually made from firebrick.

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the shelf is some sort of clay slab, edited to add I'm not actually sure if it's clay bt it works fine

Edited February 20, 2007 by insomniac (log)

[Chris Amirault]

We've been very happy with this one from Golda's Kitchen.

[eje]

We've been very happy with this one from Golda's Kitchen.

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I think I got the same one from Surfas' and its worked well for me, too.

[ray goud]

I've been using a stone for years. When I'm not doing breads or pizzas, I usually put the stone on either the lowest shelf in my oven or on the floor. Using the stone causes my oven to maintain a much more even temperature. If I have to open the door to check on the food, the oven temperature returns to normal much quicker. The only downside is that I have to remember to turn on the oven AT LEAST 30 minutes before I need it. And if I'm baking breads at 450-475 deg F, I turn it on a full hour ahead of time to let the stone heat to the right temperature.

I don't know that I would suggest a particular brand, but I would stay away from the stones with the handles -- you're giving up precious surface area. I've also used both round stones and rectangular stones. Round stones are great if you are doing pizzas or a loaf or two of bread, but again, you are limited by the actual surface area. I'd go with a nice rectangular one that fits in your oven.

One last piece of advise -- and this is more for bread making. If you do water injections to create steam, be careful not to hit the stone ... it could crack. An instructor I once had actually used unglazed quarry tiles instead of a stone. They were dirt cheap, and if one happened to crack -- eh, no biggie -- she'd just replaced the one that cracked.

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I have always, and only, used the unglazed quarry tiles, because Julia told us to, many years ago! Seriously, they are very inexpensive and can be cut to fit your oven (generally they come as squares measuring about six by six). I love them, and they never crack, despite a glassful of ice-cubes & water in the oven when I do my bread. The ONLY complaint I have is that they sometimes move around if I am sloppy, and leave small gaps between unless I push them back together. But that is a very tiny downside.

Ray

[hummingbirdkiss]

I have always, and only, used the unglazed quarry tiles, because Julia told us to, many years ago! Seriously, they are very inexpensive and can be cut to fit your oven (generally they come as squares measuring about six by six). I love them, and they never crack, despite a glassful of ice-cubes & water in the oven when I do my bread. The ONLY complaint I have is that they sometimes move around if I am sloppy, and leave small gaps between unless I push them back together. But that is a very tiny downside.

Ray

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ok that settles it ..if Julia said to use them... then I am going to use them... thanks I will go buy some today!!!

[hummingbirdkiss]

Ok my bottom oven rack is lined with quarry tiles and I want to bake a pizza ....do I need to season them or do anything at all to them I just wiped them well with a damp cloth and stuck them in there ...

just preheat well and toss the pizza on them???

[ray goud]

Ok my bottom oven rack is lined with quarry tiles and I want to bake a pizza ....do I need to season them or do anything at all to them I just wiped them well with a damp cloth and stuck them in there ...

just preheat well and toss the pizza on them???

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No sealing, no prep, just cook.

Happy tasting!

Ray

[hummingbirdkiss]

Ok I am reporting back I put the tiles in the oven and made my first pizza last night and OMG it is fantastic!!!! I am so happy ...my house smelled like Providence where I grew up and the Pizza was almost perfect!!!! I just have to adjust my dough recipe for not having to try to make it crispy ( I always added a tbl of masa or gluten to it and with the stones that is obviously not needed at all!!!)

today I am going to do my first Italian loaf and see what happens!!! I am just beside myself at this ...so thank you all so much for this wonderful advice ...

I have tried pizza all over the west coast and it is good here but not what I would call "real" pizza having grown up in Providence RI that is what my standard is ...now I am blown away that I can do this great a job with very little investment in time and money ....I have to get my kids over for dinner soon they are going to be blown away by this!!!

next week I will try to bake something with tiles on the grill ..this is a HUGE box of tiles for the small amt $10 I paid for them ..any other trick things I can do wth them I wonder?

lots of OOOXXX's to all of you !!!

PS they do not say "lead free" but they are made in the US and honestly acid (like tomatoes and stuff) leaches lead into food and I am hard pressed to think that bread would leach it out if it is in there ..but I doubt being made here and with all the restrictions on lead in products that it has any in it any way...so I am not stressing on that ...

[Smithy]

Congratulations! If I break my current baking stone, I'll remember your quarry tiles trick!

As far as other "tricks" go: just leave them in there, and see how much more evenly your oven cooks things. Braising in particular benefits from high thermal mass - the current theory is that the even temperatures help somehow. If you have those tiles in the oven it will even out temperature swings. I bet that's a big help for bread baking, too.

[ray goud]

Now that you have a nice, inexpensive and adaptable baking system for your indoor oven (and I am SUPER happy for you!), let me know if you want to try an outdoor pizza oven; I built mine a few years ago, and if you think your indoor oven/quarry tiles are nice, the outdoor one is fantastic.

On another note, perhaps you might enjoy the videos which have been released of Julia's first TV cooking shows. I have a few, and they are great.

Ray

[hummingbirdkiss]

Now that you have a nice, inexpensive and adaptable baking system for your indoor oven (and I am SUPER happy for you!), let me know if you want to try an outdoor pizza oven; I built mine a few years ago, and if you think your indoor oven/quarry tiles are nice, the outdoor one is fantastic.

On another note, perhaps you might enjoy the videos which have been released of Julia's first TV cooking shows. I have a few, and they are great.

Ray

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Ray I would love to know how to do an outdoor pizza oven!!!! are you kidding that would be a blast...I have a huge yard and plenty of room to do it ...

I am a tried and true Juila fan and yes I am thrilled you told me that because my birthday is around the corner and my kids just asked what I "really" wanted this year...I live in a media void and really had not heard that!!! thank you so much!!!!

[Marya]

I bake a lot of bread and pizza and all the stones/tiles I bought were neither large enough, or had the mass to hold the heat necessary to properly crisp a crust. I went to a local stone fabricator and asked if he could cut a leftover piece of granite from a project that had not been chemically treated. I specified the size (20x13x3/4 allowing for circulation around it) and he cut and polished out the rough edges and only charged $45. I own a HearthKit oven insert and it's performance pales when compared to this slab. You can use a 1/2-thick slab with equal results, but this was the only appropriate piece he had. I also spray the oven with water and, after four years, I have a perfectly pristine piece. You do have to pre-warm the stone for 45 minutes but the results are fabulous.

Edited March 5, 2007 by Marya (log)

[tmriga]

My turn.

I love my pizza stone. It's long, and rectangular, and works like a deck oven for me.

I do not bake pizza, and rarely bake breads - my specialty is cakes. When I lived at my previous residence, the oven racks would bend from expansion due to the heat (I would actually hear them give off a low ding when it happened), therefore giving me cakes that leaned.

I bought a 16x14" pizza stone at my local restaurant supply store, hoping it would keep the racks from popping. It not only gave better results in the dimensions of the cake (not perfect, but better), but I also found that I didn't have to spin the cake pan around to promote even baking on all sides.

Now that I'm in my new residence, with a much newer oven, I still use the stone, and now it gives me cakes that come out superbly level, right from the pan. Rarely do I have to take a knife to the end results before I fill and frost them.

Theresa

[paulraphael]

I have a half inch baking stone that works well, but I'm convinced the best option for pizza (mentioned by someone in another thread) is a big slab of iron or steel. You could get as much thermal mass as you want, and many times the conductivity of any stone or tile. This would let you mimic some of the performance of a much hotter oven.

You could get the char and blistering on the crust of an oven that's 100 degrees or more hotter with this approach. You might have to experiement with placement in the oven, in order to not overcook the crust before cooking the toppings ... I hope to experiment with this one day.

[vice]

I think someone on the pizzamaking.com forums was experimenting with 1/2" steel slab above the pie to radiate heat back down and balance out the cooking between crust and topping. I'd like to try it if I can get my hands on a piece of steel that thick.