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pizza stone

updated sun 23 sep 07

 

Cathy Durham on wed 3 apr 96

My pizza stone that I bought several years ago for around $40 looks like a
kiln shelf to me. As a matter of fact to "clean" it I put it in my elec
kiln and fire it to 500C (the directions say to clean it, i.e. burn off the
dribbled bits, put it in a self cleaning oven, but I don't have one....

Michelle Lowe on thu 4 apr 96

At 5:13 PM 4/3/96 -0500, Cathy Durham wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>My pizza stone that I bought several years ago for around $40 looks like a
>kiln shelf to me. As a matter of fact to "clean" it I put it in my elec
>kiln and fire it to 500C (the directions say to clean it, i.e. burn off the
>dribbled bits, put it in a self cleaning oven, but I don't have one....

We had a discussion on pizza stones when I first signed onto clayart, seems
about a year ago or more now, and the consensus was that kiln shelves are
perfect for pizza stones. I started using one then and it works great!

Michelle Lowe, potter in the Phoenix desert \|/ |
mishlowe@indirect.com -O- | |
mishlowe@aztec.asu.edu /|\ | | |
|_|_|
____ |
-\ /-----|-----
( )
<__>

Bill Buckner on thu 4 apr 96

I have square kiln shelves that I use for oven stones. Preheat the oven
for ~1 hour before use. Bake bread and pizza directly on it for GREAT
crustiness.

Kiln shelves are at least half the price charged by kitchen shops and
catalogs. And, you can usually get the "right" size for your oven from
the kiln shelf supplier. Be sure to leave at least 1" clearance between
the stone and the oven walls for circulation.

When they get gunked up with burnt stuff, I just use the stones as shelves
in a bisque firing and they come out sparkling!

-Bill

Bill Buckner e-mail: bbuckner@gsu.edu
Georgia State University http://www.gsu.edu/~couwbb

Richard Aerni on tue 4 mar 97

There are some potters around Alfred who make vast volumes of pizza
stones. I think (by the look of em) that they're stamped/pressed
earthenware with a terra sig type finish.

However, the current wisdom over in rec.food.cooking is just to go to a
ceramic supplier and buy a cordierite kiln shelf and use that for your
pizza stone/bread tiles etc. They're cheaper and work better than the
commercial pizza stones.

richard aerni
bloomfield, ny

Tony Hansen on thu 6 mar 97

>However, the current wisdom is just to go to a
>ceramic supplier and buy a cordierite kiln shelf and use that for your
>pizza stone/bread tiles etc.

I've been working with a manufacturer to design pizza stones.
They are a stoneware body with lots of pyrophyllite to give them
thermal shock resistance. We jigger them upside down to produce
a round flat top and a base with concentric foot rings segments.
There seem better than kiln shelves for cooking pizza.

--
=================================================================
Tony Hansen, IMC - Get INSIGHT 5 beta or The Magic of Fire II at
http://digitalfire.com or http://www.ceramicsoftware.com

Sharon Starkston on tue 11 mar 97

In a catalog of kitchenware I recently noticed a handcrafted pizza stone.
It appears to be wheel thrown and one side is glazed "for baking cookies"
while the other side is unglazed for pizza or bread.

Sharon Starkston
The Lane Pottery, Hinsdale, Illinois
Sharon_Starkston@compuserve.com

markm on fri 9 jul 99

I discovered your address on an E-group for Pizza. I am a manufacturer and
currently designing a fixture for pizza display. I am looking for a source
for (28) 12" X 24" X 1" pizza stones. Can you assist me?

Thanks
Mark McCoy
markm@sgmgroup.com

Doreen P. Diamond on tue 18 sep 07


My brother wants me to make him a custom pizza stone for his oven.? Can I use a standard stoneware cone 6 clay fired to bisque with no glaze on it or would it need to be glazed?? He says he would prefer to have no glaze on it but I'm not sure if that is safe as far as?lead content goes....
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mel jacobson on tue 18 sep 07


in my experience, the best pizza
stone is kiln shelf from an electric kiln.

most vendors have some odd sized
square kiln shelves they will sell at a
bargain price.....lots of dust on those babies.

check the size of the oven rack, get
a kiln shelf to fit it.

i have one in my lower oven...it was a scrap
shelf...i cut it to fit.

been there for 30 years. i bisque fire it if it gets scummy.
making a tile 30 inches square is a pain in the butt.

mel
about 1,000 loaves of bread have been baked
on that kiln shelf.
add a pan of water on the bottom of that
oven....wow. real bread.

from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/

Clayart page link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html

Ingeborg Foco on tue 18 sep 07


Mel,

I second that. Many years ago I picked up a broken kiln shelf at Georgies
for a few dollars. I cut off the jagged edges and it has been my
pizza/bread stone for many many years. Makes great crust and when it gets
too gunky (that's scientific for dirty) I put it into the self cleaning oven
and viola it is clean ready for the next time. My studio is not in my home
so it is easier to fire up the self cleaning oven than putting it in the
bisque kiln. Either way it works..

On 9/18/07, mel jacobson wrote:
>
> in my experience, the best pizza
> stone is kiln shelf from an electric kiln.
>
>
> --
> Sincerely,
>
> Ingeborg
>
> www.thepottersworkshop.com

Richard Aerni on tue 18 sep 07


One of the major retailers of these things (this has been a few years, can't
remember the company) was just using square or rectangular dry pressed
cordierite kiln shelves and calling them pizza stones. Really, if you have
ever looked into one of the classic Italian pizza ovens, they use real stone
there. So, just go with a kiln shelf. As a long time pizza baker, I can
attest that it is giving the stone a long and thorough heating that does the
job best, so you need to get a pizza peel and keep the stone in the oven,
putting the dough onto the hot stone via the peel.
Best,
Richard Aerni
Rochester, NY

Ann Brink on tue 18 sep 07


Hello Doreen,

I have made a few of these. Currently in our kitchen we are using a glazed
disc the size of a Tombstone frozen pizza. I think about 12 inches.
I preheat the oven and stone to 400 F, and set the frozen pizza on it. What
I like about it is you can take the whole thing to the table and the pizza
stays hot.

I wedged quite a bit of grog into the clay, also some kyanite. and fired to
cone 7. (a cone 8-10 clay). Finished thickness is about 3/8 inch. When
I've made larger discs, I make them thicker. I've just given them as gifts;
I've had 2 crack in half, so I don't want to sell them. It seems either they
crack right off the bat, or last forever. For really large pizzas, I would
play it safe with a kiln shelf, as Mel said, but smaller discs are pretty
easy to make and nice on the table..

Ann Brink
(mostly about pottery)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Doreen P. Diamond"
To:
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 2:41 PM
Subject: Pizza Stone


> My brother wants me to make him a custom pizza stone for his oven.? Can I
> use a standard stoneware cone 6 clay fired to bisque with no glaze on it
> or would it need to be glazed?? He says he would prefer to have no glaze
> on it but I'm not sure if that is safe as far as?lead content goes....
> ________________________________________________________________________

Doreen P. Diamond on tue 18 sep 07


Wow!? Great responses so far... the key thing is my brother wanted a custom made stone because he has a condo on the beach with a small kitchen that has a small oven and he'd like a stone that would custom fit his oven.? He has the pizza peel already.? (My Mom used to have her own brick oven in her back yard... Yum!)? So if I had to make this myself, it seems like it shouldn't be too hard.? I would think I should simply roll out a slab of clay...?My question is, what type of clay would be best?? and should it be unglazed?


-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Aerni
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Sent: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 7:30 pm
Subject: Re: Pizza Stone



One of the major retailers of these things (this has been a few years, can't
remember the company) was just using square or rectangular dry pressed
cordierite kiln shelves and calling them pizza stones. Really, if you have
ever looked into one of the classic Italian pizza ovens, they use real stone
there. So, just go with a kiln shelf. As a long time pizza baker, I can
attest that it is giving the stone a long and thorough heating that does the
job best, so you need to get a pizza peel and keep the stone in the oven,
putting the dough onto the hot stone via the peel.
Best,
Richard Aerni
Rochester, NY

______________________________________________________________________________
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You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
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Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots2@visi.com


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Charles on wed 19 sep 07


There should be no lead in your stoneware.

That said :)

Pizza stones should be unglazed and fired to it's
mature temperature. MANY commercial stonewares for
baking and cooking are unglazed on the inside so that
they can become seasoned over time, just as cast iron
is seasoned. The stoneware surface will darken
naturally as the oils in your foods are absorbed into
the surface leaving you with a natural non stick
surface. We have a commercially made stoneware pizza
stone as well as a baking dish from a high end
"foodie" catalog, it came with a rubber scraper, not
unlike a stiff rubber rib and explicit instructions to
soak the dish in water and then scrape the surface
free of food residue and NOT to use dishsoap.

-Charles

--- "Doreen P. Diamond" wrote:

> My brother wants me to make him a custom pizza stone
> for his oven.? Can I use a standard stoneware cone 6
> clay fired to bisque with no glaze on it or would it
> need to be glazed?? He says he would prefer to have
> no glaze on it but I'm not sure if that is safe as
> far as?lead content goes....
>
________________________________________________________________________
> Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check
> out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com
>
>
______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change
> your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be
> reached at melpots2@visi.com
>


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Bonita Cohn on wed 19 sep 07


I had a similar request a while back...the best
solution was to buy a small electric kiln shelf!

Check the catalogs of your local supplier.

Not too expensive and totally flat.

There are some things worth outsourcing.
Now what was I going to make....

Best wishes, Bonita Cohn

-- in breezy, almost gale condition, San Francisco.
The ferries were cancelled today.

Bonita Cohn
http://www.bonitacohn.com


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Deborah Thuman on wed 19 sep 07


I made a special oven stone for my oven (to hold the heat) and I made a
pizza platter for cutting pizza. I used Laguna B-Mix ^10. I glazed
both. My thought was that if food got on the unglazed tile, then I'd
need a demolition permit to get the tile clean. I've never baked the
pizza on the pizza platter although I could. I'll have to give that a
try next time I make pizza.

I use a glazed bread pan (Laguna B-Mix ^10) for bread. Makes the best
bread. I have some commercial unglazed break pans, and if I don't
grease them just right, the bread will NOT come out of the pan. I much
prefer my glazed pan. I still get a crisp crust.

Deb
http://debthumansblog.blogspot.com/

steve martin on sat 22 sep 07


The company was called the Pizza Gourmet and I bought one before I started
clay. It was latter that I realized it was a custom made kiln shelf with
thier logo embossed on one side. I have since used new 1 inch thick
cordierite round or two half shelves with great success. The key is to pre
heat the oven and shelf to 500 degrees for 30 min. Then throw some corn meal
on the hot shelf befor you slide the pizza off the peel that the pizza was
assembled on. Don't forget to put some corn meal on the peel first. The
pizza will be ready in about 7 or 8 mins. in such a hot oven.


>From: "Doreen P. Diamond"
>Reply-To: Clayart
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Re: Pizza Stone
>Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:09:12 -0400
>
>Wow!? Great responses so far... the key thing is my brother wanted a custom
>made stone because he has a condo on the beach with a small kitchen that
>has a small oven and he'd like a stone that would custom fit his oven.? He
>has the pizza peel already.? (My Mom used to have her own brick oven in her
>back yard... Yum!)? So if I had to make this myself, it seems like it
>shouldn't be too hard.? I would think I should simply roll out a slab of
>clay...?My question is, what type of clay would be best?? and should it be
>unglazed?
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Richard Aerni
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Sent: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 7:30 pm
>Subject: Re: Pizza Stone
>
>
>
>One of the major retailers of these things (this has been a few years,
>can't
>remember the company) was just using square or rectangular dry pressed
>cordierite kiln shelves and calling them pizza stones. Really, if you have
>ever looked into one of the classic Italian pizza ovens, they use real
>stone
>there. So, just go with a kiln shelf. As a long time pizza baker, I can
>attest that it is giving the stone a long and thorough heating that does
>the
>job best, so you need to get a pizza peel and keep the stone in the oven,
>putting the dough onto the hot stone via the peel.
>Best,
>Richard Aerni
>Rochester, NY
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
>melpots2@visi.com
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! -
>http://mail.aol.com
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
>melpots2@visi.com

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