Place the stone alternative into the oven before turning the oven on. Find something that works for you and use it. Bottom line, my oven fits the $66 stone and I consider it money well spent. This discovery was lost amidst the technical aspects of fermentation and gluten-development in my homemade square pizza post last week (even I was confused by the end). They are American made and I had no problem finding a phone number. If you prefer to have a circular pizza stone, get your hands on a cheap ceramic plant saucer it works in the same way as the tiles. I bought one at Home Depot. I grew up with a dad that did woodworking, some metalworking, and NEVER that I can ever remember, took a family vehicle to a mechanic. I found a 12"x12" tile at Homedepot but the clerk said he didn't know if it contained any harmful substances. Especially when it comes to pizza, that ever-important underside char and blistering (sometimes known as the "upskirt" ) will only ever come with a stone, which you can get absolutely blazing hot over a long oven preheat. Some day I would love to do a complete Cooking for Engineers-style investigation of the whole question of baking surfaces. Anyway, having been used a lot already the top is darkened by many places where oil has stained it, etc. They fit well in my oven and I did a test run this weekend with pizza and bread. Sometimes, you only need a tool once, or perhaps a dozen times on a single job. Here is the real deal, one can make an improvement to a previous patent, it happens all the time, and be issued a new patent, even though some one else came up with the orginal idea. I have an inexpensive terra cotta planter saucer I recently bought from Home Depot that I tried out last night with good results. Put the tile in a cold oven. anyway, that's my two cents, and that's my rant. So, I would make sure that you are getting what you want that can be as flexible as you want it to be and it can do what you want it to do with minimal "drama". I have WAY too many hobbies and have learned all about quality and value the 'hard way'through experience. as for my attitude discouraging "at least one person" from buying from The New York Bakers, i'm sorry that's the case. Nice to here it has work well for you, as well. it's known as the "Cry once" philosophyyou cry once when you shell out the big bucks for the 'quality' product. He buys the best ones, individuallyhe always chooses HSS over Carbon steel, or carbide over HSS, if available. If in doubt contact the manufacturer. I made the Napoletana pizza dough from Peter Reinhart's "American Pie" book and it was the best thin crust, but not much oven spring in my electric oven without oven tiles. I'd read about people who were cool and did this, eschewing the overpriced piece of stone and visiting building-supply stores instead, where they bought unglazed tiles for pennies. Mine (Boston area) did not, and had none in stock. Your mileage may vary, but it's worth a shot. They are a red color. According to data-sheets and experts, the most expensive ones will sound and perform (perhaps) 5% 'better' than the mid-priced ones and 25-30% better than the cheapest. I guess I'm still confused as to what is an acceptable (i.e. Willard`s design does not include vertical tiles. Dont despair if you are a financially challenged pizza chef and balk at the idea of spending a lot of money on a professionally styled pizza stone take heart! For $3 or $4 at home depot you cant go to far wrong. if you aren't really THAT broke, then it might be worth it out of philosophy of using only the best tools, or dignifying the project with quality tools, or whatever. Anywho, thanks in advance for any insight. Quarry tiles are just a hewn and shaped piece of stone. Perfect pictures. Having worked for a number of years for one of the world's largest manufacturers of industrial refractory products I know that industrial refractories often contain, and can leach, materials which you do not want to ingest (or breath as vapors) under any circumstances. size, thickness, can you get these at lowes? For me, they get the job done and the price is right. Granite a health risk? No. Well, now I've joined them. to dry it out more meticulously/slowly than quarry tiles. I built a "house" or a square box out of the brick and got about a 12x18 cooking surface that is covered up. Those in the picture look very similar to what I've been looking at. I have seen ovens and cooking vessels made out of this. I can imagine it tasted just as good :-) My next project is using these tiles for a friend`s pizza oven. Nick Kindelsperger (I never even wondered whether Americans or Brits might have a different name for that same product!). Dont use it until it is completely dry or it may become damaged in a hot oven. From a performance standpoint, I would say if you don't want to spend for a high value stone like NY Bakers sells, get yourself a stack of parchment paper and bake on a sheet pan. yes, granite and soapstone work, marble may or may not work, no, slate doesn't work, of which more presently. Should I just heat it up and let it burn off as much of the stuff on there as possible and hope that eventually all of it will burn off and it will stop smoking? The concern is with glazed tiles which may contain and may release lead in your oven - not a good thing! And on what shelf should I be cooking the bread in the tin? Quarry tiles are genreally considered safe to bake on. is it a matter of economics? Quarry tiles is another name for them, and they look like terra-cotta pots I purchased them at Color Tile (a local tile distributor in the Chicago area) for $0.69 per 6" x 6" tile. commission one to throw you a custom made pizza stone. For the toime being I use a similar product I received from my father, when the large commercial bakery he worked for was refitting their ovens with baking stones surfaces. Content posted by community members is their own. Pick up a few spares while you're there, too. I explained what it was for, and neither said "oh no that sounds dangerous and/or poisonous!" And it's great for high-heat applications. I think they also make ones with hollow sections in the middle. I've used unglazed quarry tiles for years in my oven--I just leave them there all the time. I'm sorry that I don't read Thai or I would be able to better understand what features this oven offers that you want. 12th Feb 2010 not as cheap. Sounds very interesting. Its all in the crust, and using a pizza stone helps create a crispy, delectable pizza crust like no other. There were various sizes and finishes, though. Will it blow up in my oven? Is using unglazed saltillo tile for a pizza stone really safe? Likewise slates. The pizza crust also came out very good and was enjoyed by all. The ugly part was my fault as my dough stuck to my cutting board (AKA fake Peel) in spite of the corn meal I had sprinkled down to avoid such an outcome. Are unglazed quarry tiles granite tiles? I will contend that tiles made for flooring and wall applications are in no way made with food production in mind. Generalizations don't work when saying one granite is good and the other not. I use a slab of granite right now, works a treat. 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Why don't you look at that one? "Porcelain": PROBABLY foodsafe? Ever walked down a busy street or been stuck in traffic? They work great! are you REALLY asserting that the new fancy stones make that huge of a difference to the hot-rocks that people have been cooking on for centuries? var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; This site is powered by Drupal. Well, I am selling something similar, I came up with a similar idea and I sell them here in Mexico, not copies, my design. Both are made in the US and I couldn't tell any difference - love the results from both. pretty sure that was for 8" tiles. Note that you would place the saucers upside down in your oven and bake your pizzas on the flat surface of the bottom of the saucer. Here a link: Tatoosh, it looks as if it was a well thought out job. Heat it up very, quickly and or unevenly, once again you are asking for trouble. I bought a big flat piece of slate and I am having it cut to fit the oven. They should be coming out with those things now that the weather is turning here. But until then, my thought would be that cast iron has substantially different heat transfer properties than ceramic, and I suspect it would not work well. Cool, thanks for the insight. Hi bakers. I bought unglazed 6 x 6 inch tiles at Home Depot on sale for less than $2 each. one of the things that rarely gets discussed is thermal stability, i.e., what happens when you pour a cup or two of ice water on a stone that's been sitting in a 500F oven for a couple of hours. I think it set me back like $35 if I remember correct. Richard Bertinet suggests in his book "Dough" to use a simple granite stone from your local quarry - he swears that it will do the job. Well worth the $46, IMHO. Kiln shelves are like 20-100 bucks depending on the size/shape. after all, people have been eating off porcelain (and chewing with it) for centuries. Bread-bakers and home pizza afficionados praise them for their heat-retaining, moisture-wicking ability to imitate the floor of a brick oven. food grade, won't explode) alternative to the commercial pizza stones. call me a curmudgeon, if you will (others have, by the way), but i've been following this thread for years and i'm just amazed at how much effort folks spend in pursuit of a great baking surface. Good luck! Asbestos is actually pretty safe to use as long as the particles aren't coming loose. he bought Craftsman only tools for everything. Press J to jump to the feed. Thanks up front! This post and all my others are just my $.02. Is this suitable? meh. These things are essentially just really cheap tiles often installed in commercial settings or other high-traffic areas. Just an image I saved from somewhere. The end result is a more uniform tile, thus it is stronger. Whats the distinctive smell at the fuel station every time you go to fill your car? Outdoors, the 6" were occasionally used on patios (but most people [DIYers, anyway] used 'solid brick' paversI seem to remember that pavers were a bit harder to lay flat, but worked out a bit cheapermaybe because they saved concrete?). I do believe his lazy susan rotating base to be quite patentable, outside of that, it`s a single pizza oven that many,including myself have built and have posted many pics of. It is over an inch think. "Slate": foodsafe(its pure cut stone, afterall, right?) They can ALL be used to provide solid, sustained heat to emulate a commercial bread oven to give great even colour and crust formation. The smaller, thinner tiles can be had as cheaply as three-for-a-dollar. This is especially true if youre using the smaller ones and will need to get multiples and line them up. The tiles do cook well but if you plan to cook pizzas more than a few times, my suggestions is to investment in a good pizza stone. To use the smaller ones as a baking surface, you must line them up on your oven rack or the floor of your oven. for me, at least, it's something that's always in my oven (they, actually; i have 2) and is my primary baking surface. They should be among the cheapest tiles in the store I have gone through a box of Saltillo tile for they break each time they are used. in fact they both sounded like they had heard of that before, or at least like they thought it sounded reasonable. It has never, Stones of all types can retain a lot of water. The 11 x 11 terra-cotta tiles can be quite thick and heavy and tend to conduct heat more evenly and to perform better than the smaller, thinner tiles. Put heavy, uneven weight on one suddenly and you will eventually break it. I realize I'm jumping in kind of late here, but I know of at least one pizzeria whose oven deck contains asbestos. I have no doubt the fancy modern baking stones perform better and last longer and are more durable, and when I get rich some day, get a fancy oven and so on, I'm sure I'll spend the money to get a high end, fancy stone that will work better than the cheap slab of rock that is far better than nothing, to go in the crappy oven that is my only option at the moment. They come in a wide variety of sizes that will enable you to make personal pizzas and large, traditional pizzas. That is a lot of money (if you are talking USD) for a small oven, so I am not certain where those types of oven fall in the overall schemes of cooking appliances where you are. I applaud the thrift and frugality that is displayed on this group, but I have also seen the results of long-term industrial poisoning and they are not pretty. What about just using fire brick, it is expensive up here but then it has all ready been shipped. It does need to be bone dry and needs to be warmed slowly and thoroughly before you take it up to high temp. I can't tell you anything about that, but generally speaking I don't think there are any chemicals to worry about because a kiln gets so hot that they would be get burned. In my last oven - which was larger than my present one - I used a Le Creuset crpe pan which gave excellent results - super heat retention, even heat distribution and extremely good oven spring! It's got a couple chips and numerous stains, but it's still going strong. I covered two shelves in my home quality electric range for les than $15.00. Part time Pizzameister - Full time Geologist. All other tiles are fired, teracota, ceramic, wall, floor. as it is intended to go on the floor, the weight of a loaf is not going to distress it too much. Sometimes I use a double layer of tiles to give me the extra thickness of the commercially available bread ovens. tile, marble and granite will crack, if not explode (slate will do that on its own, thanks to the air pockets). Here's what you need to know. I have read many theories and tried some experiements myself, but I am not convinced that we amateur bakers really know what is going on when the dough hits the flat hot part. Mine came in 6x6 size. i also just generic pizza stones and our primary one is about 10 years old (and seasoned so beautifully at this point). Even after all this, I still had a tile crack on me after 4 months of usage (breads and pizza), and I got one with a hairline crack. I read all the opinions presented in this site and my head was sent twirling. thanks so much and the bread looks terrific. The room was pretty much filled with a smoky haze, actually. Terracotta plant saucers also make good pizza stones. How are you storing it? he said he could special order it though, and showed me a page in his product catalog with it, and he called in and checked the price for it. oh don't get me wrong. but more fragile, and needs to be heated gradually at first, or when exposed to water (I assume not counting the water IN the bread?) I used natural granite stone which letf over from house repair put in my oven, and sometimes I used ceramic tray that came with microwave oven too. I put the bricks inside the oven with the racks still in it. as a baker and a businessman, i sell or recommend only what i believe in and use myself -- at prices that are much more within reach of those on limited budgets. When using tiles as pizza stones, it is sometimes best if you are able to keep them directly on the floor of your oven. It is possible to create your own DIY stone affordably. I also use the iron-skillet on the last shelf with boiling water method for steaming. Hopefully they'd understand. :). Since they are industrial products you should be able to get a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for them, but then again refractory producers don't usually do food safety testing except for certain food-oven liners. works superbly. Putting it directly into a hot oven may break it. All posts copyright their original authors. Wash your unglazed tile or saucer (see instructions for selecting the right one below) thoroughly with cool water and no detergent terracotta will absorb any tastes or odors, and you dont want your pizza to taste like detergent, even if only vaguely! I have the unglazed red quarry tiles and have put them on the bottom rack in the oven. There is also asbestos in some of them. That's just a guess though. The contented, happy feel good chemicals your body will release will do plenty to keep you healthy and live a bit longer. He said the tile being porous is key; I think he said something about it absorbing water. You can then make a somewhat informed decision about the safety of the tile. Thus, not all slates are alike and some are much more prone to shattering than others. plus, all the money you save by baking your own instead of buying (not to mention the nutritional and emotional satisfactions, but that's another story) will more than pay for the extra up front cost of the stone. Generally allow an hour for the oven and tiles to heat fully. Using our guide, you can learn how to get your hands on a perfectly good pizza stone alternative, so you too can enjoy authentic homemade pizzas at a fraction of the price. Thanks! The small space inside seems like it could be very confining for a good amount of money. I heard that unglazed quarry tiles can be used to substitute for pizza baking stones. i think that we all ought to use the best we can afford -- afford being the operative term here. Not sure if that was the best approach but it was mine this first go around. very vulnerable to damage from heat variation in use(such as water exposure). Mine went for a cool $0.45. I have been using unglazed quarry tile for baking bread over the past several years with no detrimental affects. I have learned more in the last few weeks and am looking forward to continuing to explore this wonderful world of bread baking. One has to wonder what their protection is. After I seasoned the "stone" I whipped up my second attempt at FloydM's pain sur poolish and made two of the ugliest shaped loaves I've ever seen with some WONDERFUL oven spring, crust, and crumb. He also said they can be left in the oven rather than having to remove it after use. It is basically the size of my oven rack, with an inch or so on all sides. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, http://www.amaco.com/prodImages/KPXL29.jpg. (though ceramic is more of a heat insulator). Anyone have experience? If you have a potter's supplies near you, there are ceramic sheets to go into kilns on which pottery is fired . We were given one of the fancy, rectangular pizza stones when we got married in 1996 and we have used it once (or more!) i'm sorry my words have put you off and hope you'll recognize that people will do whatever they choose, and satisfy their own needs in ways that work best for them, regardless of what i or others think. The best way to pick them out is to look for something in the brownish-red hue of flowerpots. I can`t find the later posts, though I marked them Unread, about some possible patent infringement on the 2stone which is patent pending,meaning nothing,really. yes, its better and more durable, but it seems a bit exaggerated that you NEED one of those expensive things to make bread that comes out great. Do not bake on glazed tiles!!!!! Have tried glazed, unglazed, teracota and stone. so why all of the running around? Both types are made entirely from earth materials, and if unglazed, should be fine for baking on. Once you've done that, I've learned, it's pretty reliable, although not as tough as tiles. Which oven rack do you put your quarry tiles on? engineered stones don't crack: they remain stable to temps of 1000F plus for fibrament and 2000F plus for cordierite. They are exactly like this. Metropolitan Ceramics. Please do me a favor and buy a stone from a supplier that will provide a food-safe certification. Slate can work fine, but needs careful prep. A couple of names I've seen these as are UNGLAZED saltillo, ceramic, terracotta, and quarry. Many may never be used, but at least there's a tool available to do the job, when it really IS needed. Likewise soapstones. Notable Exception: I am aware of one handmade baking stone on the market that is glazed. Another advantage to using tiles on the floor of your oven to bake your pizza is that you can also make good use of the heat that is stored in the tiles. The chemical vapour coming from hot oil? > If you have a potter's supplies near you, there are. The tile oven we are speaking of in no way copies Williard`s design, where is the rotating base? We've had it for 12+ years. Here's the bread in the "box"I accidentally moved the bricks when I was 'peeling' the bread in there. It is a natural product, easy to cut to size. They run like a dollar at the hardware store. If I place the bread in a tin, should I put the tin directly on the tiles? Just look for tiles that are made of all-natural clay to be sure of avoiding lead content. Whenyou built your little box in the oven did you build it right on the bottom of the oven? As with tiles, be sure to choose unglazed terracotta to avoid lead content. I haven't heard any reports that unglazed quarry tiles are unsafe for cooking on. Will unglazed porcelain stones work? This is because they are made from "refined" clay in a powdered form. I'd also like to see what the famous 'quarry tiles', etc, look likeI knew what that meant in 'Australian English' when I lived in Australia. I appriciate that tools do matter. Thus it has other things in it besides clay. didn't really bother to clean it to much, because it does loose some of the clay, but like the other post mentioned, they are made of clay and water and fired at 1600 Degrees F. I have had great success using Super Saltillo tiles up to 800 deg F. Great looking pizza!! Thanks to the FreshLoaf community for turning me back on to a hobby that my mother started me on when I was a wee little lad with a tiny little loaf pan making bread with her. I was just at lowes yesterday, and at least the lowes HERE did NOT have the unglazed tiles. that they used to, but don't now. I say we ride some gravity." It gets scraped with a spatula (if necessary) and then wiped down with a soapy rag, but it never gets washed like a plate. I have found that porcelin floor tiles hold up very well as opposed to ceramic floor tile which breaks after a short time. Larger tiles tend to cost about three dollars each. as a matter of fact if you look at the kitchen pics in bread bakers apprentice you can see them in peters oven. I leave it in the bottom of the oven and occasionally relocate it to a rack for specific baking purposes. I wasn't sure what your goal was. the guy knew what I meant when I asked, but didn't carry them. Much of the time I slide my bread in on parchment paper, but I've often baked directly on them with fine results. He kept it on the bottom rack of the oven on top of another one, in fact. They mention using quarry tiles at about 3 minutes 30 seconds into part I. http://www.pbs.org/juliachild/free/baguette.html. I've read about them for prices as low as 30 cents. Tiles don't have much thermal mass anyway. > ceramic sheets to go into kilns on which pottery is fired . Pizza stones are silly. Some had a polished surface, with very few 'inclusions' and were often used indoors; about 10-12" was a popular size for 'hacienda'-style homes.They required a fair bit of 'finishing' by the builder or homeowner after being laid. but the fact is, there are industrial materials available specifically cordierite and fibrament that have been have been deemed food safe by the FDA and engineered for high-temp applications. i just got tired of paying what i consider exorbitant prices. This photo could be of my own quarry tiles. The guys were very easy to talk and I ended up getting a dozen firebricks that were half the thickness of normal brick (i know this is not uncommon, i just don't know the terminology). it is just my opinion that you could have recognized that some people may not find the investment worthwhile, and/or simply not be able to afford it, better than you do. I'm searching for a pizza stone that won't break in 6-12 months of (moderate?) Her writing offers personal experience from experimentation with food and recipe creation. But rather than spending $40 on a slab of stone from Williams-Sonoma on which to bake my pizza, though, you can instead go to Home Depot and cobble it together for a few bucks. Unfortunately it doesn't fit in my present oven and I've still to find a piece that fits with room for heat to circulate round one, but when I do At present I'm using a pizza stone - good, but not as good. You have encouraged me to try this. It seemed news-worthy enough to merit its own post. I bought a whole box of them, I think I paid $24 in case any of them break. Unglazed quarry tiles are thick and are made of fired clay, basically as it comes from the ground. Anyhow, if you want to try using a baking stone for the first time and have a home depot handy you can try the saucer and see the difference it makes in your bread.