Baking stones
Are baking stones a must have?
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.
Once again, Baking Stones...
Greetings to all in this pre-Holiday time! Before the Seasonal baking orgy gets into full swing, I need opinions on the following: Soapstone &/or Granite as an oven stone?
The details: As I finish my home Kitchen renovation, I will have sizable remnants of Soapstone ( 1.25" new, countertop, deluxe!) and polished granite (.75", old, polished countertop.) I understand that the soapstone is the preferable ovenstone which will go into the primary oven, but can I use the smaller, older polished granite counter pieces as baking stones as well in the other oven?
Baking Stones - Glaze in tiles
I bought some tiles at Lowes, and the employee there showed me some unglazed tiles that he would recommend for baking. But since he didn't have any experience or people asking him, I searched online for some info on the tiles.
So far I found out an answer to my question.
Do I need to seal the Rialto, Botticino, Positano or Murano series tiles carried at Lowe's?
No. During production process there is glaze incorporated in the mixture to help prevent stains.
KAF baking stone and Old Stone Oven/Amazon.com baking stone - same or different product?
Is this the same exact product? The KAF catalog doesn't list the manufacturer. The stone on Amazon is less $ and free shipping. Thanks in advance for your comments/advice.
Making baking tiles
Has anyone made baking stones from clay? I have a convection oven and am thinking of making tiles from stoneware clay. There would be 4 tiles that would fit my oven rack, leaving 1" of space all around for air flow. I am thinking of adding some minor designs into the tile so the bottom crust of my breads would pick up the design elements.
Any thoughts?
Pre-Heating Baking Stones
I would like to let my breads rise on a baking stone and place this in a pre-heated oven when the loaves are ready to bake.
Would this work OK? I only wonder because I usually read that baking stones should be pre-heated too.
What happens to me rather often is if I let loaves rise on a peel (on top of parchment paper) and then as gently as possible slide the loaves from the peel to the pre-heated baking stone, they often fall 20-40%, even though they pass the proofing tests. This happens with many recipes.
So I'm trying to find a way to get around this.
My New Baking Stone
I bought a new baking stone at Sur La Table last week. It is a lot heavier and thicker than your ordinary baking stone (14 x 16 x 5/8). I'm really impressed with how it is performing. My oven is definitely getting and staying hotter and my breads are cooking more quickly and getting browner. My new stone, made by Best Manufacturers in Portland, OR, is lighter in color than ordinary stones and seems to be made of a different type of material. Anyway, I highly recommend it. It was worth the $42.
A pizza parlor in your kitchen (cheap HearthKit)
A member of Peter Reinhart's bread forum posted a link to an article on how to make your oven capable of producing a great pizza published in the LA Times today. Read it here.
--Pamela