May 23, 2020 - 10:27pm
Opinions on baking stone vs baking steel
Was wondering if a bunch of you would please weight in on whether I should buy a baking stone or baking steel for baking all sorts of bread and pizza. Cost is not a factor, just want what is best. Thanks!
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have a fire brick slab 1.5 to 2cm thick cut to fit the size of my oven minus 3 cm all around leaving space between the 3 walls and door. Have the corners and sharp edges ground smooth.
If price isnt an issue, get yourself a bread oven that can bake up to the high temps for pizza as well.
I personally, use steel, so I will speak to the good and bad of that method only. I did use a stone, way back at the start of my baking journey. Which Segway's into the first pro.
Pros
Cons
conclusion: I find that steel is better suited to the hot quick bake times of pizza. That being said, using care good results can be achieved with breads too.
Kind regards,
Will F.
DermDoc, my vote goes to FibreMent-D Stone. You have the option to have it custom cut to fit your specific oven dimensions. If you choose to go this route, give them a call. Their customer service is excellent.
I’ve tried various stones and steels, but FibreMent (custom cut) is my favorite by far.
If all I did was pizza, the steel might be better, but the stone does a super job.
Thanks, Dan.
Your endorsement is enough for me to have a look see! I am always open to new and better! Maybe the FiberMent is a more even trade off for bread/pizza.
PK, look into the custom cut stone. I think the up charge for custom cutting is ~$25. They will recommend leaving about an inch or two space around the perimeter for heat exchange. It will be appreciated when you tackle those baguettes...
I have a couple of heavy weight steels, but even for pizza the stone is my go-to.
A possible use for the steel in combination with a stone -
The steel can be placed on a top rack over the bread dough for additional radiant heat.
Do you have it custom cut so it replaces the wire rack and slides in or just custom cut to make it as large as possible for the oven?
DermDoc, the stone fits on the wire rack. Call them with you inside oven dimensions and they will specify the optimal size.
Without adequate spacing, there won't be adequate air/heat circulation, and the stone or steel will get overly hot. And the upper or lower portion of the oven (depending on using the upper or lower heating element) will overheat and could damage the oven.
Rules of thumb vary, from 1.25" to 1.75" space between a rectangular stone/steel and the walls of the oven. I would trust the Fibrament company in their specifications.
The stone/steel can easily exceed the air temp of the oven, because it picks up _radiant_ heat from the heating elements, not just convection/air heat. I don't know the exact temp, but electric heating elements easily exceed 1,220 degrees F, as they can melt aluminum.
(Radiant heat is how Will's baking steel gets to 600 F in a home oven.)
In practice it does not matter all that much, both will make a fine bread, but it is much easier to find a stone of the right size.
Baking steels are different animals than baking stones. In addition, they are mainly only good for the thinner types of pizza.
If money is not an object, then you'd want three: 1- thin steel, 2- medium/thick steel, 3- stone.
Here are some books to get you started:
1. The Pizza Bible by Tony Gemignani. https://www.amzn.com/B00JYWW490?tag=froglallabout-20
Tony is THE pizza-steel man!
2. Elements of Pizza by Ken Forkish. https://www.amzn.com/B012KJYR3O?tag=froglallabout-20
3. American Pie, by Reinhart. https://www.amzn.com/B0047DW4KA?tag=froglallabout-20
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For a free quick start guide to baking steels, watch Tony Gemignani's videos on youtube.
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Like anything else, baking steels are mere tools. You have to know what their purpose is, what baked products they are intended for (some pizza styles, but not all pizza styles) and how to use them both in conjunction with your oven (top/broiler heat, bottom heat, convection, time, temperature) and the pizza recipe (thick/thin, whether to pre-bake the crust, etc), and how to choose thickness of the steel.
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by the way, www.pizzamaking.com is to pizza, what TFL is to bread.
Buona fortuna, e buon appetito!
Either buy a convenient size for your oven, or buy it custom cut so that it sits on the rack and leaves an inch or so space at all 4 sides so there is airflow. You would not want it to fill the entire space, and it should sit on the rack, not slide into the grooves for the rack.
BTW, there is a huge difference in the use of a steel for pizza v. bread. For pizza, you use the steel to get a tremendous transfer of energy ( heat ) in a very short time - not uncommon to have a pizza cook on a steel for only a few minutes. So the thicker steel is used to transfer the heat quickly. I have a very thin sheet of steel, less than 1/8 inch thick, that I use for baking bread and it gets the bottom of the loaf very brown. I don't think a thicker sheet is needed for baking, but can help for pizza.
I have a standard size home oven. I got a fibrament stone that is 20x15x 3/4. It is great for bread and pretty good for pizza. I also recently got a 3/8in steel 16x18 off ebay for $85 delivered- it is seasoned and ready to go. It weighs 30lbs but I am not bothered by that at all. I leave both in the oven and rotate which is on top - stone for the bread and steel for pizza. I think the 3/8 steel is a good thickness to balance good heat retention with weight and heat up time. The guy on ebay also offers custom cut sizes.
If you really want to go all out -get a combi-oven or a steam oven and then put in a wood burning brick oven out back.