Brooklyn1 <Gravesend1> wrote:
> On Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:44:33 -0400, Jim Elbrecht >
> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 4 Apr 2012 15:33:26 -0700 (PDT), Kalmia
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> On Apr 4, 3:07 pm, Jim Elbrecht > wrote:
>>>> Kalmia > wrote:
>>>>
>>>> -snip-
>>>>
>>>>> If you buy a stone, be sure you have the lifting handles, too --
>>>>> although I can't imagine a sonte being sold without them.
>>>>
>>>> Mine didn't come with handles. And if it did I would have lost them
>>>> by now. I put the stone on the bottom rack of the oven several
>>>> years ago. I do take it out to clean the oven, but otherwise it
>>>> stays there.
>>>>
>>>> When I roast veggies, I use that rack and think it helps caramelize
>>>> them.
>>>>
>>>> Jim
>>>
>>> See, I use the handles to remove the entire stone when the pizza's
>>> done. I'd rather cut the pizza on the stone than on the peel, which
>>> be in splinters by now. My stone lives on the handles, except for the
>>> rare occasion when a roasting pan won't fit level on the stone.
>>
>>
>> Too heavy for me. I take it out with the peel and slip it off onto a
>> cutting board.
>
> Why a cutting board... don't you own a pizza pan?
> You do realize that those fercoctah stones do absolutely nothing in a
> residential oven other than place the know nothings on a head trip
> that they are actually baking, NOT! There is no way to make a
> residential oven into a brick oven. That stone will never get hotter
> than the thermostat setting but since it's heated secondarilly by the
> oven air as soon as raw dough is applied its surface temperature drops
> dramatically from moisture condensation and the recovery rate is much
> too low to reheat the stone as fast as it cools. With real brick
> ovens the flames under the oven floor heat the bricks directly, or
> electric elements are embedded, so recovery rate is fast. Pizza stones
> are a total waste of money, they waste energy heating too. The best
> method for baking any yeast bread in a residential oven is on a
> perforated pan... no need for a peel and pizza can be cut and served
> on a perforated pan... clean up is a breeze. Even pizzarias no longer
> bake directly on the stone oven floor of pro pizza ovens, most use
> pizza screens, essentially a perforated pan. Also those pizza stones
> interfere with a residential oven's convection... and in case yoose
> don't realize it using a pizza stone can damage your oven and void the
> warranty... the manufacturer will know that a pizza stone buckled the
> oven bottom.. most owners manuals warn against using pizza stones.
> Serving on a perforated pan will allow condensation to escape from
> under the pizza, no more soggy crust while eating.
> This perforated pan fits on their deep dish pan, perfect for letting
> moisture escape... used to be sold as a set, I bought the set some 25
> years ago, never looked back at stupid stones again:
> http://www.chicagometallicbakeware.c...zacrisper.aspx
> The deep dish pan is also the best sticky bun pan ever made.
> The perforated pan also does a great job baking pizza on a grill.

Most good traditional shops push the dough onto the oven floor. I thought
it was metal, but I never looked in. I questioned the use of a stone, and
any pan. Some shops like to use a pan to size a pizza. You often find black
flakes on the bottom of good pizzas, and it will also have blackened areas
on top. I think you need plenty of heat to do it well. I thought, if you
use a stone at home, you need to preheat it before putting dough on top ??
What's the point ?

Greg