I have read http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/507 regarding baking stones, and some people cannot understand why for the love of god people are discussing quarry tiles and substitutes, when FDA approved baking stones are readily available.

I have no option but to choose a substitute to baking stone, and I'd be glad if you could help me find one. To put it bluntly,

To use a baking stone, a baker need to satisfy 3 conditions:

1) Live in a location where baking stones are available

2) Or Live in a place where safe handling and delivery is made

3) And Have the item tested for safety

Unfortunately, I don't satisfy either:

1) I'm from India, specifically Mumbai city (its similar to NY city, but much worse), and apparently no baking goods supplier knows what a baking stone is here. I just went to some B2C shops in this godforsaken city and they were totally confused. I'm sure the pros get their tools B2B and imported. Also Google, shows no suppliers in India. None whatsoever.

2) Even if I do import one, I will not receive the baking stone in one piece, due to the way things work here. To put it simply, the handling is so bad here, even if it was FedEx-ed/UPS-ed or DHL-ed, the delivery will be made by a chilled out local who will definitely break it if its says handle carefully, or steal it if it says valuable :D Ok so I'm cynical, but I've had my share of experiences when I ordered Zildjian cymbals from NY some years ago which 'luckily' arrived 7 months later, yeah I kid you not. Luckily they were too durable to break. Other items aren't so fortunate.

3) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is USA specific, and others countries may have their own version, but where I live the item to be tested (baking stone) isn't really available and therefore obviously there is no further question of testing.

Regarding Unglazed Quarry Tiles: Its a USA specific substitute from what I've read.

As far as Mumbai is concerned, some Tile shops I went to here clearly said its unavailable, others have no idea what it is. Even if I was told it is available, there is no way to check if it is glazed or unglazed. The seller will pass off a glazed piece as a unglazed here, as long as he makes a sale, since value of life in a country of 1 billion+ (1.1 billion now?) comes very cheap. :)

Therefore, of the other available substitutes (Granite, terracotta flower base plate, ceramic dish, soapstone, anything else? PLEASE SUGGEST OTHERS) which one would you think would be the best bet to get a good bread, especially pizza, or focaccia, and are there any conditions, that need to be satsfied for them to work. eg. unpolished granite, etc.

Although I'm throwing random darts here, I hope you will help me.

Thanks,

spinge

P.S.: This is my first post :)

I want to thank Paddyscake here on the TFL for sharing her raspberry tart recipe last July (divine is the word to describe it).  She said she substituted the mascarpone cheese with cream cheese and used Pepperidge Farm for the crust.  She said despite these substitutions, the pie was just about gone in a heartbeat.

In "Two Pies, One Lie" on my personal blog – www.sotsil.wordpress.com – I featured Paddyscake raspberry tart because I did some cheating of my own.  I bought  mascarpone cheese (almost had a coronary when I saw the price) but berated myself for pairing it with a Graham cracker crust that was idling in my cupboard for two months.  On hindsight, I thought it was kind of criminal to buy expensive cheese and drape it on a store-bought crust.  Nature is very forgiving though; this raspberry tart had a silky, delicious, whistling taste.

The Dutch Apple Pie below was taken from the Canadian Living  Test Kitchen.  For this one, I stayed faithful to the recipe ingredients and procedure.  Nothing was tweaked or substituted.

During the fall, there’s a lot of apple picking going on in the eastern seaboard of North America.  Quebec’s apple route is in a town called Rougemont – rustic, postcard-pretty kind of town.  I used Cortland apples for this one.  The ¼ cup whipping cream gives it a different twist.

For Paddyscake raspberry tart recipe, this is the link:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12424/kalamata-olive-sundried-tomato-and-feta-bread

(you need to scroll further down – it's a thread that starts with Pam’s Kalamata Olive bread).

For the Dutch Apple Pie, I reproduce it below.

There is nothing like the lack of an ingredient to stimulate the creativity in all of us. (Some of us do it all the time! I mean, run out of ingredients.) A flour, oil, shortage or rapid jump in price will also inspire us to look for substitutes. So, here with the ideas for substitution in flavour texture or price!  

All ideas and inspirations welcome!

Rye is disappearing, at least until the next crop is in, so what else can we use? organic grass seeds?  Different Cultures have different substitutes, some of these cross over nicely.

What have you tried? How did it work or not work? Here is the place and time! Don't be shy....

Mini O