If you are looking for more information on baking stones then, you’ve come to the right place.
A Brief History On The Baking Stone
Round Ceramic Baking Stone
Before metal oven racks were even invented, people would place raw food they want to bake onto ‘stones’ to keep them from getting burnt in the oven. It was a common practice for folks to employ a thick heavy stone with corn spread on top to cook traditional dishes like the Native American flat bread. Low fire was set to produce something similar to tortilla bread which was a staple food of certain Native American tribes.
In this modern age, the baking stone is often associated with baking pizza, truth is, there are actually many other uses of the baking stone.
What Is A Baking Stone?
A baking stone is basically a flat stone that is used when baking. Food is put on the stone, which is then placed in the oven. There are times when the stone is heated first. They are used much like cookie sheets, but they can absorb additional moisture to produce crispier food. Food is less likely to burn unlike using a cookie sheet due to the thermal properties of the baking stone.
These stones can be made of different kinds of materials. They tend to be either rectangular or round in shape. Clay stone are common but there are some people who prefer marble. Some stones are glazed while some are not, so there are a great variety of choices available on the market.
Using Tiles Instead Of Stones? Probably Not A Good Idea
Some individuals would suggest that purchasing a baking stone is a waste of money and time because you can replace it with tiles which you can get from your local gardening or kitchen stores. This can be dangerous and not safe as most tiles manufactured for garden or home are not meant to be used in cooking. They may contain high level of leads and can be harmful to your health.
Pizza Baking Stone
Advantages Of Baking Stones
Using a baking stone seems to be produce really outstanding pizza or bread. The bottom crusts will tend to be lighter and crunchier because the baking stone absorbs more moisture than a typical cookie sheet. Baking stone also has the ability to heat the crust evenly and lessen the chances for a pizza/bread to get burnt.
There are some debates going on, whether you should construct a pizza on the stone itself before putting it into the oven or whether you should place a prepared pizza on an already heated stone inside the oven. Some argues that the latter method is the more effective one.
Baking Stone Tips
Rectangle Baking Stone
Many artisan bakers would use commercial sized baking stones in the preparation of bread. You can emulate this at home with the baking stone. Some people advocate that you can substitute stones for anything you can imagine putting in an oven, but you should think carefully before doing this.
Imagine if you are going to substitute your cookie sheet with a baking stone, you will lose that important lip that helps keep things from running off a flat surface. Cookies on very large stones may not pose a problem but other foods like Pizza for instance will have a tendency to run. This might cause you a lot of extra cleaning work. So, when you want to use baking stones for different applications, you should consider getting stones with cooking sheet style (with lips), instead of the typical flat round or rectangle stone.
Cleaning Your Stone
Some people may bump into problems while cleaning their baking stones especially the ones that are not glazed. To avoid this, you should season the stone with oil regularly and try using non-stick spray on the stone as well.
Remember, stones that are ‘unglazed’ should not be washed with soap because it may absorb the soap flavor which I’m sure you don’t want. You can use warm water and try scraping off stuck pieces of food with a dull knife or a spatula.
I Love My Baking Stone!
I have been making pizza for years. It’s something I take very seriously no matter if I am making my dough from scratch, or if time doesn’t permit, using pre-made re-fridgerated dough. Now I’ve used all sorts of pizza pans to bake my pies from the round aluminum sheets, to the large round sheets with the holes in them, to the rectangular pans that pizzerias use for deep dish pizza.
Bottom line is that none of them gave as true a pizzeria taste as a baking stone does. What’s more is that stone allows you to cook at hotter temperatures as my older oven always cooked faster on the bottom and I’d have to adjust the rack height.
The stone allows for much more even cooking and provides a true gourmet tasting crust.
Try it once and I’m sure you’ll never go back to aluminum pans again.
