Joel - I've had a pizza stone for about 4 years and we love it -- tho I wish it was 'just a bit bigger' so I could do 2 pizzas at once. We've looked into the unglazed tiles and I've read up quite a bit on it and it's 'for the future'.

I agree with your friends re 'now we'll never go to pizza shops again'. We used to call out for pizza about once a week ---(and myhusband is Italian-American) and now it's homemade pizza at least once a week.

I keep my stone in the oven almost all the time - it is great for the foccacia you mentioned and also for all my breads. I make a lot of baguettes -- I have those perforated long twin pans ...and with those air holes the crust gets nice and crispy. Tho I do bake some loaves (round country style, etc.) right on the stone.

I think you'll find you'll use your tiles for other things also. I've found it helps my pie crusts .... I used to have trouble with the bottoms getting done the way I wanted.

Enjoy!