It's Friday night and what better night for pizza? Pizza is such an easy, yet extremely fun family dinner — it's best to get everyone involved! hrough the selection of crusts, cheeses and toppings, it's a win-win situation for busy parents (or busy couples!). To get the best pizza, we recommend using a baking stone.
Baking stones may look the same, no matter where you're shopping, but there are subtle differences. Baking stones will last you years, won't cost you an arm and a leg and are extremely easy to store and maintain. Here are some of our favorites, for all budgets:
• Pizza/Bread Baking Stone, $48.00 provides the ability to make a professionally stone fired pizza. If you're not in the mood for pizza, it's great for baking bread!
• MR. Bar-B-Q Round Pizza Baking Stone Kit, $34.99 is a great, low-cost option for a baking stone. Not only is there a great baking stone, there's also a large spatula that will help you ensure you don't drop the pizza on the floor!
• Round Baking Stone, $17.95, is another really good low-cost option. If you're not quite ready to dive head first into the baking stone world, or if you just don't want to spend a lot of money — you can't beat $17.95 for 15" of baking stone goodness.
• Emile Henry Pizza Stone, $49.95 is unique not only in its color, but also in its ability to withstand extremely high heat and it's dishwasher safe!
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Comments (15)
I use the water tray (or whatever it's called) from an extra-large terra cotta pot, turned upside down. $18 at Home Depot.
The Fibrament-D stones (http://www.bakingstone.com/) are also quite excellent. I've used mine quite a bit. One nice thing about a baking stone is that it adds thermal mass to the oven, making temperatures more consistent.
Personally, I think Pizza stones are a bit overrated. The best way to make a pizza that I've found is in a cast iron skillet. I caramelize onions in it first to put on the pizza, and all of the remaining flavor is picked up on the still wonderfully crisp crust!
I use my pizza stone all the time instead of a cookie sheet. Just as jcwren said, it adds thermal mass to the oven & makes temps. more consistant in my not as consistant oven.
i've always wondered if i can just use the flat surface of my cast iron grill pan instead?
I bought my pizza stone (brand-new, in the box) at a yard sale for a couple of bucks: a good investment for the 15 years or so I've been using it!
I see new, unused in-box baking stones at the thrift store all the time. Keep your eyes peeled and you might pick up a bargain.
Every time this comes up someone always says "get a tile at the hardware store." I'd love to hear about the characteristics of a tile that would be right for the job.
I have a fancy smancy pizza stone and a $.99 12" x 12" piece of uncoated / untreated slate I bought at Home Depot. Both work great. The slate is somewhat smaller but produces the same crispy crust. I've cooked dozens of pizzas on it and it shows no sign of wearing out. It is nice to have two for when we have company. I've also popped into hardware stores when visiting family away from home and want to treat them to homemade pizza.
I have a pizza stone but now I'm just looking for a recipe for that gorgeous pizza pie shown in the image above!
just get a quarry tile from a hardware store. It's the exact same thing, but a fraction of the cost.
Mine cost $2, and it's been the best pizza stone ever!
What kind of temps are people using with the quarry tiles/untreated slate?
We've gone through three or four commercial stones but they can't withstand the heat necessary to get really good homemade crust. I love Emile Henry so considering that one... anyone tried it at 450-500 F?
I've tried the quarry tiles and the common commercial stones (i.e. "Round Baking Stone" above). I agree with the second poster that the Fibrament-D is far and above better than anything I have tried. The crust comes out absolutely perfect on a pizza, and it significantly improved the oven spring on my baguettes. It is much thicker than the above stones, and can be ordered in any size to fit your oven perfectly.
I start at 500F and lower to 450F after 3 minutes.
actorsdiet; you can totally use your cast iron skillet! it's fantastic and makes perfect crusts. put it in the oven while it's heating so that it's as hot as it can get, and get your guests all excited when the dough hits it and puffs up and hisses :) yums.
I am kind of excited just seeing the pizza in the picture! I have never seen that shape of crust without there being a pan so i just never thought to try and free form it.
Yeah - still kind of pricy for a big slab of stone.
My option: a 20" x 20" x 3/4" piece of limestone purchased for $5 as one of the "remnants/leftovers" at my local tile yard. Works a treat.