I finally figured out how to make basic sandwich bread and now I'm moving on to greater challenges. 

I would like to get a baking stone but there seems to be a number of people who prefer cast iron. I am already a huge fan of cast iron. I have several cast iron pieces already and enjoy theire durability and versatility. I cook at home with them. I use them on my grill. I've used them at the park on huge out door grills for big events. I've even hiked cross country and used cast iron over the fire.

So, baking stone or cast iron griddle? I believe the cast iron will be more versatile and offer many more options in use. However, I wonder if cast iron can match or exceed the baking stone's bread capabilities?

I am considering buying a baking stone & would like to know if I get one "cut to fit" how much room (if any) do I leave for air flow around the stone?  the racks would hold a 24"x14" stone if I filled them entirely, but that would leave virtually no space.  Just a small amount in the back where the rack slants up.  Can I maximize this & use it all or is there a minimum amount of room I need to leave around the stone?

There we go.

I fired up the oven for one hour and 15 minutes on full blast, only to find out I didn't have the proper gear to check the surface temp properly. So I had to play it by ear.

The first bake was a miche, to see how the stone would affect crust. As a matter of fact I didn't notice anything different in oven spring of the baking bread. After all the warnings, I was very careful with my steaming and have managed to keep it in one piece! The miche díd get a very nice lift at the bottom though, more than on my thin stone, where my miche tends to be a bit "edgy" around the bottom and prone to breaking or tearing.

I do think I underestimated the amount of time it takes to properly heat the stone through and through. The second loaf; a manitoba tortano, a potential high riser did go in at the proper temp. By default this bread already has a very enthusiastic oven spring.

It came out singing like a bird, even though I slightly over proofed. In this bread I could discern a definite positive effect of my new stone on oven spring, crust color and "bottomlift" (a new term imported from the cosmetic industry...) 

As I said: it sang proudly! And I like it when my bread sings.

Will I tell every one to run to the store and get this stone? Not really at the price that I paid. And as became overtly clear in this thread, there are way cheaper options out there that are equally good or better, when it comes to thick stones. If you happen to have access to any of the sources mentioned in the thread: run and get yourself a thick stone for a few bucks, it IS worth the trouble!

Here a few more shots to take this story all the way tothe end

Cheers

Freerk

P.S. Take a look at my updated bread gallery.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My new baking stone arrived today.

So far I have been baking on rather a thin stone (more geared towards pizza I suppose), and this one is 4 cm thick.

I'm curious to see how it will perform.

Any TFL-ers with good tips and pointers?

This stone is made out of grog clay (coarse chamotte or firesand)

greetz

Freerk

P.S. Take a look at my updated bread gallery.

Hi,

I have a 16" baking stone which does not fit into my new oven, alas. I was going to give it away on Craigslist but I thought this community could use it better. It is used and the top is not pristine but it is in great shape. I live in the Washington DC/NoVA area, contact me for photos (if you want them) and arrange to pick up.

Also, "Hi!", I am new to this forum but have been reading here quietly for a while.

Currently, I bake on a round pizza pan, I have a small aluminum roasting pan filled with river rocks for steaming purposes. I only bake sourdoughs and my general method is to preheat the oven at 500º with pizza pan and river rocks inside for about 45 minutes. The oven is nothing special, it's a basic gas oven that came with the house, it doesn't even have a timer.

Just before I'm ready to bake, I put 3 wet terry cloth rags in the microwave for 3-4 minutes to get them steamy, then I pour about a half cup of boiling water over the stones, and close the oven to let it steam up a little bit. When the rags are done, I pop those in the oven on top of the rocks, close the oven.

I get my loaf out and slash (I've been retarding my loaves overnight for the final proof). I pop the loaf in the oven and quickly pour another half cup of boiling water over the rags. At 15 minutes I take out the rags and reduce the oven temp. to 400º, then continue to bake for another 20-30 minutes. 

I get a really good oven spring with this method. I'm still trying to figure out the right temperature and rack location for my oven. I can cook a pizza on the oven floor with no problems, but with my bread on the lower two racks the bottom of the crust sometimes burns a little bit even though the rest of the bread is perfect.

I guess I'm just wondering, what if anything, would I benifit from a baking stone? Would it help with my occasional bottom burning? I'd still have to preheat at least 45 minutes right? Would I be able to cut out some of my steaming steps? 

Learned a new way to crack a baking stone recently: put a room-temp stainless steel bowl on it with the oven set to 500F.

I put it open-side up to pre-heat for the famous "magic bowl" steaming technique. Apparently, the bowl acted as some kind of super-efficient heat sink. The stone cracked, though not all the way through, from what I can tell. It still holds together pretty well, and since the crack is about 1/3 of the way from the right edge, I can still load it with a normal size boule or batard.

I've had this one for years--really well-seasoned, nothing stuck to it (except pizza, when cheese got under the crust once), thick, perfectly sized to my oven. I think it came from Sur la Table, but I can't remember for sure.

What a bummer. The bread did turn out great, though--a very lofty, super-tasty version RLB's Basic Hearth Bread.

I managed to get a cordierite baking stone cut to size for $60 (includes shipping), but I'm not sure if I need to do anything with it before slapping my dough on it.  After hearing the Fibrament issue, not sure if I'm supposed to do anything special with mine.  It is actually from a clay/potters supply place so is actually meant for kiln shelving, so it is super heat resistent, but do I need to burn off any weird coatings?  Thanks!

Hi,

Has anybody based in London, UK managed to find a supplier of baking stones? I am determined not to settle for the pizza stones, but try and find unglazed quarry tiles. They do exists here, just have not managed to find a supplier. 

Much appreciate any pointers.

Best,

Nicolaj

LONDON

After much searching for a clay stone, without any luck, I have found a local bakery school that sell baking stones cut from kiln shelves. I have asked them what the material is (no reply yet, but from what I understand they are mostly Cordierite).Being unfamiliar with kilns, their shelving and Cordierite I am eager to find out how safe they are in contact with food. I suspect a used one would not be safe because of contamination from whatever was fired on it, but that shouldn't be an issue in this instance.

Lately I've had a crazy hankering to make some Trinidadian "Buss Up Shut" roti (a wonderful variation on flatbread), which is done on what they often call a "baking stone" or "tawah". It's a very large griddle-like surface, over direct flame.

Therein lies my quandary....They often call it a "baking stone" but I'm wondering if it is actually cast iron. Is it OK to heat a baking stone (Pampered Chef) over a gas flame?

The instructions say no, but we all know that manufacturers are often ultra-conservative.

Will my stone explode into smithereens if I do this?

Thanks,

Scott.