March 15, 2024 - 12:31pm
Pizza stone kapow!
My ceramic pizza stone broke in the oven. Fortunately, I was able to slide the pie over enough to keep the toppings in place. Turns out, max temp should be 450° and mine was 550°. I might have known that at one time, hard to say.
Time to look for another stone that will withstand 550°. I can't justify the price of steel for an occasional pizza, and the days of having a handy hubby with connections to metalworkers & scrap dealers are long gone. I'll have to work something out, because 550° makes a darn fine pizza in a kitchen oven.
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Although 550° doesn't seem too high for a good stone, I guess things happen.
I haven't bought from these two vendors, but I know people who have and they are very happy with them. Check them out.
I got my stone in 1980 from the TV show "The Pizza Gourmet". Still going strong. I've always kept it in the oven. I don't know if that helps it but I do it to keep the heat stable (thermal mass) when I open the oven to check on baked goods.
https://fibrament.com/shop
https://www.californiapizzastones.com/
Dave
Thanks, Dave, I'll check them out. Hmm, thermal mass. I learned something else today.
Dave wrote
A long time ago I had a pizza stone. Then I lined it with a layer of quarry tiles. I compared baking bread with and without the second layer. The crust (and expansion too, if I remember) came out better with the two layers.
Years later I received a King Arthur's steel as a gift. I compared it with the two-stone layer and it was a little better. So that's what I use now.
TomP
Thanks Tom. Good information to have if the unthinkable ever happens and my 40+ year old stone breaks.
Dave
custom-cut a piece of refractory lining to fit my oven rack.
Similar to this. Mine is very thick and probably weighs 25 pounds. Cost me $20 USD.
Best wishes. Dave
I used to use unglazed quarry tiles as a second layer on my pizza stone. I was lucky and got a box cheap at a flooring store where they were discontinued. Otherwise the cost of getting enough to cover an oven rack will probably be more than for a regular pizza stone.
TomP
Aldi Food stores periodically have pizza stones as a sale item,under $10 US. Our stone has survived 500+ temps for 3 years without incident.
Alas, we are not blessed with Aldis up here in the Great White Expensive North, but thank you for mentioning that.
I have decided to go with a cheap stone for the simple reason that it could very well outlast me. Ha!
Thanks to all who made suggestions.
Got my new stone today. It's a 14" Cast Elegance, made in Boulder. Chose it because it was on sale, but it's got good reviews online. It was only $12.88Cdn which is less than $10US. Checking prices online, that's almost unbelievable. Even came with a bench scraper and recipe book. It's a tad smaller than my last stone, but I can never get my pizzas to come out as big as I intend anyway, so it'll do fine. At least, it's in one piece.
Don’t you love a good buy! Wonderful price plus bench scraper….enjoy!
When it comes to pizza, you can't skimp on spending for it. It really is worth it!!
I'd like to think I got a really good stone for a really low price. At least, it was made in the USA.
I'm beginning to think my last stone broke because it had moisture in it. I'd scrubbed some spots on it several days before, so maybe it wasn't thoroughly dry.