# Baking stones



## Adillo303 (Apr 9, 2008)

Who uses a baking stone? Except for loaves for sandwiches, I balka all of my bread on a stone. I am considering one or two Fibrament stones. FibraMent Baking Stone Available For Home Use! - bakingstone.com 

Anyone have one? Any opinions?

Thank You

AC


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## GotGarlic (Apr 9, 2008)

Adillo303 said:


> Who uses a baking stone? Except for loaves for sandwiches, I balka all of my bread on a stone. I am considering one or two Fibrament stones. FibraMent Baking Stone Available For Home Use! - bakingstone.com
> 
> Anyone have one? Any opinions?
> 
> ...



I don't know anything about that brand, but I have two Pampered Chef baking stones, and I love them. They're much less expensive than those Fibrament stones.

Large Round Stone : Stoneware : The Pampered Chef, Ltd. 

HTH.


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## JMediger (Apr 9, 2008)

I have 3 ... 2 round and one rectangular.  That's all we use - for everything!  I would love to get a few loaf pans.  Love them!!


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## Michelemarie (Apr 10, 2008)

I use my pampered chef stones all the time - two round stones, two jelly rolls (bar pans)- one large and one medium, loaf pan, deep dish pie plate, round casserole and 8x8 - they are wonderful!


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## mittshel (Apr 19, 2008)

*Baking Stone for Pizza*

I want to bake a frozen pizza on a baking stone.  Will that work?  Thanks for any comments.  Betsy.


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## KitchenScrapbook (Apr 19, 2008)

I have one baking stone, a large Pampered Chef one. I don't use it very much, but it bakes great! What I don't like about it is it's so heavy and either it's hard to get off of the oven rack or I have to use that rack thing under it. Another thing is that when I scrape that stoneware with a metal spoon, it grates and gives me goosebumps. So, I never bought more stoneware, but I agree that stoneware bakes well and even. 

And yes, mittshel, I've baked frozen pizza on mine (works good), although we prefer pizza directly on the oven rack for a crispier crust.


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## Andy M. (Apr 19, 2008)

mittshel said:


> I want to bake a frozen pizza on a baking stone. Will that work? Thanks for any comments. Betsy.


 

Putting a frozen pizza on a super hot stone in the oven will probably cause the stone to break from thermal shock.


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## mittshel (Apr 19, 2008)

*Frozen Pizza*

I baked the pizza on the stone before I saw your post, Andy.  It worked perfect.  Used the conv. oven and until I master a homemade pizza, no more $20+ pizzas for us.  Thanks again for the help.


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## AMSeccia (Apr 20, 2008)

Andy is exactly right, and you also want a good 80% of your surface area covered.  Ideally, you want whatever you're cooking and the stone to come to temperature at the same time to prevent thermal shock.  Areas where there is no food will come to temperature before the rest of the stone and MAY cause a problem if dense or frozen.  The one exception would be for homemade pizza ... in that case I preheat the stone and put the pizza together on a pizza paddle and move to the stone when it's screamin hot.  

I have every stone PC has ever made and wouldn't be without 'em, except my first deep dish baker that was perfectly seasoned and just gorgeous and my dear hubby shattered.  Waaaaaaaaaaaah.


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## mittshel (Apr 22, 2008)

*Pizza Stone*

Andrea - Let me make sure I get this right.  Put the frozen pizza on the room temp. stone and put them in a preheated oven?  Correct?  Thanks for the help.  Betsy.


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## Adillo303 (Apr 22, 2008)

I have a large assortment of PC stones. I most use the "Bar Pan" and a large rectangular one for my Rye Bread. They fit beside each other in the oven and each holds a loaf. 

Unfortunately, for me, my Black Labrador, in an attempt to steal a loaf of Rye pulled the rectangular stone foo the stove top and proke it in half. For now, I put it on a cookie sheet and use it till I decide what to do about it. 

While PC is less costly, the Fibrament is 3/4" thick and the size of my oven shelf, leavint the suggested 1 1/2" around the stone for heat circ. It would stay in the oven at all times, as suggested.

I think the thick stone would be relatively impervious to temperature shifts, like putting a frozen pizza on it. 

These are the folks that make the stones for Pizza parlors.

Just my 2 cents.


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## AMSeccia (Apr 22, 2008)

mittshel said:


> Andrea - Let me make sure I get this right. Put the frozen pizza on the room temp. stone and put them in a preheated oven? Correct? Thanks for the help. Betsy.


 
That is right ... if they heat up together, less chance of thermal shock.  The more seasoned your stone gets, the more you will appreciate the results, so until it's nice and dark I encourage you to bake cookies, fries, everything you can think of on it to get it seasoned.  If it's a stone with sides (bar pan), bake bacon and have BLTs for dinner once or twice and you'll be good to go.


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## Caine (Apr 22, 2008)

mittshel said:


> I want to bake a frozen pizza on a baking stone. Will that work? Thanks for any comments. Betsy.


The only problem with that, as I see it, is that the instructions for most frozen pizzas specify NOT pre-heating the oven, and if your pizza stone is not preheated, you might as well use a pizza pan.


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## Russellkhan (Apr 23, 2008)

I have a Fibrament stone. It works great. I recommnd it highly. The only disadvantage is that it takes a good long time to heat up - preheat, 30 mins for most baking (350-400 degrees) or up to an hour for pizzas or artisan breads (500+ degrees). I leave it on the bottom shelf of my oven in general, but take it out if making something that I want to do more quickly that won't benefit so much from the stone (quickbreads and sandwich loaves, for example, though the steadier, more even heat from the stone would probably be good for them, it just isn't always worth it to me to use the extra gas and take the extra time to preheat the stone.).   Most of the advice above seems to be specifically for Pampered Chef stones - do not follow that advice if you get a Fibrament - the instructions specifically say that the stone should not be seasoned with oil.


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## GadgetGeek (Apr 23, 2008)

Adillo303 said:


> Who uses a baking stone? Except for loaves for sandwiches, I balka all of my bread on a stone. I am considering one or two Fibrament stones. FibraMent Baking Stone Available For Home Use! - bakingstone.com
> 
> Anyone have one? Any opinions?  Thank You AC



Several years ago I investigated baking stones to find what the top of the line  range companies were using in their ovens and what the commercial pizza ovens were using.  I knew it had to be some sort of refractory material that was food safe, durable and usable over a wide range of temperatures. What I found out was that a good many of the companies were using Kiln Shelves.  That's right straight out of the pottery industry where ultra high temperatures were used.  I worried about the food safety of the kiln shelves that were available to me here in Georgia from some Carolina-based kiln shelf companies, and found that one classification of the shelves was indeed food-safe and that I could custom order almost any shape, or size shelf that I wanted. 

So, if there is a company somewhere near you that sells kiln shelves (they are thick, heavy and last a long, long time) give them a ring and ask which of the shelves are food safe and buy the last pizza/bread stone you will ever need.   I have round ones for my Big Green Egg and rectangular ones for two sizes of oven shelves.  They are not inexpensive, but are the real deal. Shipping the heavy stones may be an issue, but with the cost of gas, I am guessing UPS is the cheapest way to go..?

Highwater Clays:

.


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## LilChickadee (Apr 23, 2008)

Baking stones are amazing! I've never used that particular brand, but I know Pampered Chef works _amazingly_ well (IMO).  I use them for everything - from baking cookies, to casseroles, frozen pizza (so much better than a pizza pan!), fresh pizza, scones, etc. I don't have any of the bread loaf pans, but I bet it would make amazing bread, too.


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## Adillo303 (Apr 23, 2008)

Caine said:


> The only problem with that, as I see it, is that the instructions for most frozen pizzas specify NOT pre-heating the oven, and if your pizza stone is not preheated, you might as well use a pizza pan.


 
I sort of look at instructions as guidelines. The site seems to be populated with folks who take recipies and instructions and enhance them. Of course with a stone, baking times will change and the crust may be more crisp. If that is what you are after, then go for it. If you like your crust soft, I would avoid a stone.


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## Bigjim68 (Apr 23, 2008)

Alton Brown suggested using stone counter tile as a baking stone. Anybody tried that?  These stone tiles come in several different sizes, should be food safe, and are relatively inexpensive.


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## AMSeccia (Apr 23, 2008)

Russellkhan said:


> I have a Fibrament stone. It works great. I recommnd it highly. The only disadvantage is that it takes a good long time to heat up - preheat, 30 mins for most baking (350-400 degrees) or up to an hour for pizzas or artisan breads (500+ degrees). I leave it on the bottom shelf of my oven in general, but take it out if making something that I want to do more quickly that won't benefit so much from the stone (quickbreads and sandwich loaves, for example, though the steadier, more even heat from the stone would probably be good for them, it just isn't always worth it to me to use the extra gas and take the extra time to preheat the stone.). Most of the advice above seems to be specifically for Pampered Chef stones - do not follow that advice if you get a Fibrament - the instructions specifically say that the stone should not be seasoned with oil.


 

Actually Russell, I would offer those same recommendations for any clay baking stone, not just Pampered Chef.  Fibrament is not all clay, and therefore may not want to "season".  But for clay baking, the worse it looks the better it cooks -- just like old fashioned cast iron, seasoning is GOLD.


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## Russellkhan (Apr 25, 2008)

AMSeccia said:


> Actually Russell, I would offer those same recommendations for any clay baking stone, not just Pampered Chef.  Fibrament is not all clay, and therefore may not want to "season".  But for clay baking, the worse it looks the better it cooks -- just like old fashioned cast iron, seasoning is GOLD.





OK, that makes sense. The Fibrament is my first stone and I haven't ever worked with a clay one, but that's pretty similar to how I was told to treat the base of my La Cloche clay baker (which is getting less use now that I have the stone, sadly).


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## Nancy Jane (Apr 26, 2008)

*baking stone*

I have one and it makes the bread all crispy and golden.  Oh, and what it does for homemade pizza, don't even get me started.  I couldn't be without one now.


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## Adillo303 (Apr 30, 2008)

If I were to look for unglazed quarry tile, would I look at a floor tile store or a store (Yard) that sold pavers, bricks, etc.


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## oldcampcook (Apr 30, 2008)

I bought my unglazed quarry tile at Home Depot.  I think I paid about 60 cents each and they even cut two of them for a buck.  Measure the inside of your oven and leave about an inch or so clearance on each side and front and back.
I bake all my artisian style breads as well as my pizza on them.


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