Hope this helps you Robin, Shirl, Kathy, and Bernie

Hey Everyone!!!

Heres some information for ya'll. I'm still kinda learning this stuff myself... but I'll share with you everything I have...

To start off... I know some of you maybe wondering what exactly is a "Pizza Stone"???--- I think over the years ... with the help of "modern technology" the home cook has been having a lot of fun with being able to make what used to be... "Restaurant Only Food"... One of which was the ability to make a really good pizza. As we all remember the days of frozen pizza... which never seemed to be even half as good as the kind you bought at the pizza parlor... I think the home cook has always secretly dreamed of being able to make at home a pizza that could compare to the kind you would by at a pizza parlor if not BETTER... but one of the biggest problems has been the texture... or the crunchiness of the crust... not to mention the quality of the ingredients of what goes on top... of that pizza.

I guess someone saw the need... and decided to make available a "Pizza Stone"--- which is usually a round or rectangular stone approxiamtely between 1/2 inch to an inch in thickness... and is to be placed inside of your oven usually either on the bottom rack or the floor of the oven.

In a book called "The Best Bread Ever" it says

"Top- quality commercial bread is baked in hot, brick-lined hearth ovens. The mass of stone in a hearth oven provides the 'thermal inertia'... or rather the ablility to retain the heat at a constant temperature, thus baking more evenly. This is rarely the case in most home ovens, where the temperature can drop as much as 75 degrees F when baking a batch of bread before the oven recovers its heat. With the popularity of home baking and pizza making, porous terra-cotta stones and quarry tile are inexpensive and readily available for the home bread maker. Look for the largest pizza stone or baking stone that will fit inside of your oven."

In a book called "The New Basics Cookbook"

"...pizza stones and baking tiles can bring a little of the traditional brick oven home. Unglazed quarry tiles can be bought from a ceramic tile store. They should be about a half-inch thick; thicker ones take too long to heat up and those that are thinner break. Measure the bottom rack of your oven before you buy tiles and allow for a 1 inch gap on all four sides so that the hot air can circulate. Most suppliers will cut tiles to fit. Baking stones are costlier than tiles, but they are also easier to get in and out of an oven."

"... if you do decide to go with tiles or stones, your pizza utensil list will get a little longer, too. To get the pizza on and off the tiles, your are going to need a pizza peel, which is simply a flat paddle with a long handle; the back of a baking sheet works too, but your forfeit the distance the pizza peel gives your with its long handle." "... peels or baking sheets should be sprinkled well with cornmeal before the uncooked pizza goes on them."

In a book called " The Perfect Recipe"

"After baking pies in a pan, on a stone and on a pizza screen, as well as on quarry tiles, I opted for tiles. Pizzas baked on a perforated screen, let alone a solid pan, just don't crisp up and brown the way they do on stones and tiles. In the end, the quarry tiles consistently delivered pizza with darker, crisper bottoms.

Tile has it over stone for another reason: if you don't slide the pizza especially a large ---- on to the stone just right, part of the pizza hangs off the stone , and toppings fall to the oven floor. Lining an oven rack with quarry tiles allows you to bake on the entire rack. My oven, lined with tiles, is large enough to cook two medium pizzas at a time."

"Make sure the oven is preheated to 450 degrees F. for a minimum of a half an hour. Your tiles or stone need at least that time to heat up. If baked any sooner than that, your pizza crust will be thin, blond and limp.

Once the dough disk is topped , get it off the peel and into the oven as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the greater the chances of sticking. Don't hesitate when sliding topped dough from the peel."

Now that is the basic information I have... basically... summarized... you will find that... UNGlazed Terra Cotta Tiles... that are at least 1/2 inch thick are your best bet. They are less expensive than the stones that are called "Pizza stones" and do the job just as efficiently. When I went to the tile store here in NYC... I took with me two jelly roll pans thinking that it would be just as easy to use them... have him line the pans with the tiles ... (hoping he would cut the tiles to fit the pans as well...) When I produced the pans... and asked him to help me cut the tiles to fit he asked if I was baking bread... I said yes... He asked me whether or not I had read in some bread baking book about his buisness... and then proceeded to tell me that I could just line my bottom rack...(leaving 1-inch on each side for air circulation...) I was concerned about the tiles moving and sliding... but when I acutally made pizza I just placed in the oven as close to the bottom of the oven as possible...and when I slid the pizza onto the stones... when I went to get them off...the tiles never slid towards me...since I used a peel to move the pizza up off of the stones..

I tiled and 18 inch by 18inch area of my oven for 12$. (and that is by NYC prices..!!!) where an inch circular "Pizza Stone" would have cost me about 30$
(by the way an 18 inch circular stone as opposed to an 18 inch square has 30% less surface area... which actually means that an 18inch circular stone could make 30% less of what ever you are making.

I also bought a "peel" for 15$--- which again are NYC prices...

I placed a little flour on the peel...and sprinkled cornmeal... stretch the dough into the shape of a pizza and then move the dough on to the peel... it should slide freely if you have sprikled it with both a little flour and some cornmeal...and the trick is to use very little sauce and topings and then move it quickly to the oven... once in the oven cook for only about 7-10 mins.

I know that you must be absolutely nuts with all of the information... I am sorry... I am the kind of person who really likes to know all of the details of what to expect as well as any possible problem I may run into... not to mention... EXACTLY how to do things so that I will have success.. I hope this has helped... Please forgive me for including too much information....I know many of you (if you have even read this far!!!!) must be laughing... I am a cook that really loves it when someone tells me every last detail to expect....I guess that is that perfectionistic upbringing....

I have an incredible PIZZA SAUCE for those of you wishing ... after all of this unbearable and probably unnecessary information ...I would be willing to share ....not to mention a dough recipe.... although I'm not so sure acutally how the dough recipe compares to others....but it really made thin and crispy pizza that was out of this world... Thanks for being patient with me...and as always ....anything I can EVER offer to make your cooking at home wonderful. Please let me know...!!! If ya'll have any other questions....let me know... thanks for asking Robin, Shirl, Kathy and Bernie...

P.s. I have been told that leaving the stones in the oven actually help conserve energy since the oven retains the heat better... I can't tell you for sure...but it acutally makes sense... so you may leave your stones in the oven...

Like I said ... I too am experimenting... I would love any of your comments... responses...and ideas!!! Good luck... and please let me know what brings you success... I am very interested!!

HAPPY COOKING!!!

P.s.s. Shirl.... How do you clean your tiles... do you wash and then season with olive oil??? or what I'd love to hear!!!

:)

Joel---NYC