Baking stone sub?
Yeah, I had one. Never used it. Gave it away. And sure enough, it's come back to bite me in the tush, because I want one/em. But I really go ouch when I see the prices. Am I wrong in thinking you can used unglazed tile for that? Has anyone played around with this?
What convinced me I oughta try it? Shirley Corriher's Bakewise.
Who's used 'em? Where can you get the tile? My Lowe's and Home Depot both looked at me like I was nuts when I asked for unglazed tile.
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16 Comments:
Go to home depot or a place where they sell masonry products and buy a quarry tile it's bigger maybe 14" sq. or 18" sq. you can get different sizes and it'll cost you maybe 2-3 dollars. make sure and get the unglazed.
Bon Chanc!
Pavlov at 12:16PM on 02/23/09
C'est "bonne chance" en fait, Pavi. Ou est-ce que ça c'est l'Acadien?
Alton Brown actually used the bottom to a very large terra cotta pot. Genius idea, I think.
meg3j at 12:37PM on 02/23/09
Expensive? Mine was dirt cheap at Costco and came with a stand to hold it after taking it out of the oven. I forget the price, but I think it was close to $5. I bought a bunch as gifts, too. That was only a few years ago. It is a great stone, perfect size. Check there and T.J. Maxx and Ross and close-out stores or outlets. It's a pretty common item.
PerkyMac at 1:16PM on 02/23/09
I use my cast iron skillet. Not exactly the same thing, but it does the same job on pizza. Pre heat it the same way you would a stone.
Kerosena at 1:23PM on 02/23/09
Home Depot was where I was this a.m. and got blank stares. Maybe the phrase "quarry tile" would do it.
I want something larger than a 12" skillet, unfortunately. And have you seen the prices on really large terra cotta saucers - bigger than 12"? Not that they're available here until spring. I keep thinking about the hole, too. But it's an interesting idea. I wonder if you heated the pot itself, you could use it like the walls of a tandoori oven to cook Indian breads?
lemons at 1:39PM on 02/23/09
I went to a home depot once and had to buy 4 smaller tiles. Didn't work too great. I recently broke down and bought the cook's illustrated top recommended model. It was wedding registry money anyway. No complaints so far. Made pizza twice and tea smoked some spareribs. I believe Alton brown has used a terra cotta planter to cook things before. I may be mistaken.
Mike Fox at 4:26PM on 02/23/09
Alton Brown used a big pot and saucer as a clay oven inside his oven, so in theory, it's possible. However, either on that show or another, there was a warning that you want to make sure the clay pots you use are made in the US, because other countries may use materials that will be less food safe. Fine for plants, but probably not fine for direct contact with food.
@lemons, there's no hole in the saucer, so that's not an issue. But yeah, they're pricey here, too. A cheap baking stone could be a better deal.
And when I went shopping for clay pots for some cooking project, what I found was that none of them were labeled as to country of origin. It's probably not a question too many people ask.
dbcurrie at 5:33PM on 02/23/09
Alton Brown once used a hardware store quarry tile as pizza stone... i and I believe today they'll air a Good Eats pizza show (check out the Serious Eats TV Schedules in the home page) so you can see it for yourself... Jamie Brown also used a limestone in a recent show instead of a traditional pizza stone... I have this on my TO DO list... so go for it!!!
MadelynRodriguez at 7:14PM on 02/23/09
It was on today. Alton Brown used two quarry tiles (one on top of the other) - they were only 12", IIRC - he said he liked to make small pizzas.
Tangentially related, he spends WAAAYYY too much time on the crust. Nobody is going to wait 24 hours! It's not worth it. It's just crust.
On the other hand, he mentioned Saf-Instant and uses the same three cheeses I use, and have for 20 years. However, he doesn't use nearly enough cheese. I double that amount. I also like to use fresh mozzarella.
Mooner at 10:44PM on 02/23/09
I think over time, you will decide to buy a pizza stone - I bought the terra cotta tiles at Home Depot a number of times, and while they work great, they eventually crack. Always. At a buck apiece, they will eventually add up to what you would have spent on a pizza stone. I think the pizza stone is tempered - fired at high temp - so it will be more durable, and less wasteful. I'm watching for one on sale, and it will eventually pop up somewhere, I'm sure!
renewbee at 10:45PM on 02/23/09
Oh, he only used 2 quarry tiles on top of each other to lift the pizza off the oven floor, not because you needed to. His oven had a lip on the bottom and it just made it easier to get the pizza off the paddle onto the stones if he had 2 stones on top of each other.
Mooner at 10:47PM on 02/23/09
I have a pizza stone that I love. It's even good for baking cookies. My mom has a stone casserole dish. I would love to steal it from her.
joeqboo at 8:55AM on 02/24/09
I've tried all the local Home Depots and Lowe's stores, none of them have anything that I'd be comfortable cooking with. Bite the bullet and buy a good thick stone and you'll save yourself a lot of agravasion. Thin stones all crack in time. Even a good one may crack in time. I bought mine at Williams-Sonoma, it has a lifetime guarantee. Just be sure to file your sales receipt in a save place. Mine is my pizza cooking platform, and as such it gets a lot of use. Well worth the price in the long run!
dmcavanagh at 8:00PM on 02/24/09
I got my stone on Amazon, and for convienence's sake, would again, but I have heard that the Williams-Sonoma lifetime guarantee is useful in the event of a crack - which could happen as a fluke, so I'll kick myself for going easy if it happens to me!
louie734 at 12:57PM on 02/25/09
I've had the same pizza stone for years. Since I had no idea that it was good for baking other things, I've only used it about ten times, since I don't make pizza that much. This thread has made me want to research the many things I can do with my stone. I don't even remember paying that much money for it, but it was definitely worth whatever I spent.
whatzerkitty at 2:08PM on 02/28/09
Just bought 4 tiles at Lowes for $1.50. They do not use the term quarry tile. Try asking for unfinished mexican tile. HD had nothing and I tried several tile stores and no one appears to have anything larger than 12x12 any more.
Instead of an oven, I use a three burner NG grill which easily holds a temp of 600 F. Trust me, that extra 100 degrees makes all the difference for Pizza. Thin crust cooks in 4 minutes flat.
Whether using tiles or a stone, buying a small wooden pizza peel is even more important if you are going to do 2 pizza or more quickly and cook directly on the tile/stone.
howy61 at 11:11PM on 05/11/09