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?
I suspect that the granite was of the cheap Chinese variety; any reasons why I shouldn't use it as a baking stone?
Plan B: the granite will go to my local vocational high school's culinary program to use for chocolate & pastry work.
Thoughts & opinions greatly appreciated, regards, bobdrob
I had never thought of that, but I looked around and found: http://bakerybits.co.uk/Granite-Baking-Stone-30cm-by-30cm-and-3cm-thick-P388374.aspx as a good example that granite is used for that purpose.... Who'd'o' thunkit?
Cool idea!
I'd been using granite chopping board which you can get from many supermarkets as a baking stone (after removing non-slip pads) for a while quite happily before I got Corderite one from a kiln manufacturer. You use it upside down, placing dough on the unpolished side. (It doubled as my pastry board, too, with the polished side up.) I know many people in an UK-based baking forum use granite chopping boards for that purpose and, if I remember correctly, Richard Bertinet recommends granite as a good material for a baking stone, too.
I have used soapstone, very dense and heavy and commonly used as a hearthstone in fireplaces for its thermal properties. Lots on the web and this site covering this.
It tends to take a long time to heat up - at least 90 minutes to reach about 550 degrees. This compares to an hour for my Fibrament stone. The flip side is that hours later the stone retaines a huge amount of heat, at least 350 degrees F after two hours. So very slow to heat and a long time to cool. My piece is from a countertop and is 1 1/4" thick. Can't comment on granite other than have read it is unsuitable for oven floors, so perhaps not the best choice
Use the search box and enter "soapstone" - plenty of posts on this and granite too...
Good luck!
The soapstone is an excellent material for this application. At that thickness, it does take a long time to reach temperature. I wish I had glommed onto the cutout section from the sink when my countertops were installed.
Paul