Ham Sulu wrote:
> I've been reading that unglazed quarry tiles are a good cheap substitute
> for a pizza stone. I was going to try baking a pie using a technique
> which says to put the tiles/stone right on the bottom of the oven and
> bake the pie on top. However, I'm worried the tiles will scratch the
> interior of my oven. This is probably a stupid question, but can I put
> something less abrasive under them in the oven (and what would that be?)
> or does that basically defeat the point as they have to be directly on
> the surface of the oven? OR, will it work just fine if I put the tiles
> on the lowest rack?

Tiles don't go on the oven bottom, they go on a rack or on a
baking sheet. I put mine in a low-sided baking sheet - had
the tiles cut to fit. Post that recipe. It sounds like a bad
idea all around.

I use mine on the top rack level and pre-heat the stone in
the oven pre-heat mode where the broiler and the bottom
elements are both on. I heat to an oven temp of 550F.
There's some conjecture about whether the overhead radiant
element actually heats the tiles to a higher temp than the
air in the oven.

Slide the pizza or foccacia or whatever off a pizza peel
right onto the very hot stone/tile.

I can't imagine doing a pie on a stone or tiles. Too hot
against the bottom of the plate. Air moving against it will
transfer only a limited amount of heat to the plate. Tiles
and stones will transfer a great deal more heat in the same
time and I'd be afraid of burning it. I've never heard of
anything like that, but it's not the first thing I didn't
know about.

Pastorio