The guys were very easy to talk and I ended up getting a dozen firebricks that were half the thickness of normal brick (i know this is not uncommon, i just don't know the terminology). Thus, not all slates are alike and some are much more prone to shattering than others. Enjoy making wonderful bread and home baked goods. Below are pics of the quarry tiles I have been using. A visit to your local home improvement store can reveal some remarkably inexpensive pizza stone alternatives in the form of terracotta (ceramic) tiles or plant saucers. Put the tile in a cold oven. I too used unglazed tiles, not pizza stones. They are made to cover floor and walls. it may even be worth budgeting to save up for, if you expect to be doing bread baking over the long term, rather than a fleeting hobby. I've seen the Fibrament baking stones and plan on getting one soon. Bottom line, my oven fits the $66 stone and I consider it money well spent. And it's great for high-heat applications. Good luck! Dont use it until it is completely dry or it may become damaged in a hot oven. All they had was concrete and similar things. As an amateur, I have no idea what I might be building for my own use, or for friends, over the next few years, so I spend the same money as the pro to buy a full set of the cheapest reasonably-good bits I can find. (function(d, s, id) { I heard that unglazed quarry tiles can be used to substitute for pizza baking stones. If you like I can produce numerous documents that prove my point. so why all of the running around? Both are about 1/2" to 5/8" thick. The tile oven we are speaking of in no way copies Williard`s design, where is the rotating base? ive used them for years, they are great. I'm searching for a pizza stone that won't break in 6-12 months of (moderate?) Join 6,748 readers in helping fund MetaFilter. (Probably mild steel would work well too.). Even after all this, I still had a tile crack on me after 4 months of usage (breads and pizza), and I got one with a hairline crack. I am free where ever I am to build an exact copy of of say a Fender Stratocaster guitar, I just can`t sell it as a Fender Stratocaster guitar. The bread cooked faster than usual by about 10 minutes though it did take about 40 minutes for the oven to reach it's max temp. No. Is it to be able to heat up hotter than the one you currently have? Here they make them up to 15 x 15" so I bought one for 11 pesos=1 US dollar. I couldn't wrap my brain around anything that wasn't a large slab (IE: quarry tiles, bricks, very small rocks) so my choices seemed to be kiln-bottoms or Firbrament. I guess i'll go ask my local tile shop about that. That is a lot of money (if you are talking USD) for a small oven, so I am not certain where those types of oven fall in the overall schemes of cooking appliances where you are. Well thanks for that input about my smoking baking stone. The Fresh Loaf is not responsible for community member content. Some cities have Thoousands and thousands of tons of the stuff in buildings. Terracotta plant saucers also make good pizza stones. The best way to pick them out is to look for something in the brownish-red hue of flowerpots. Nice to here it has work well for you, as well. Yes, absolutely. Content posted by community members is their own. (I never even wondered whether Americans or Brits might have a different name for that same product!). I can imagine it tasted just as good :-) My next project is using these tiles for a friend`s pizza oven. Thanks. Have tried glazed, unglazed, teracota and stone. Turn on the oven to highest temp and let it heat up for half an hour. Looking at Lowe's website they only list ungazed porcelain tiles, are these safe to use, When I had a question about the tiles I wanted to buy, I called ther manufacture. yes, its better and more durable, but it seems a bit exaggerated that you NEED one of those expensive things to make bread that comes out great. I've enjoyed using them. The home of pizza on reddit. Hopefully they'd understand. :). Is this oven only to be used to bake flatter breads? i also think, germane to your point, that for a baker a stone is hardly an occasional tool. I used natural granite stone which letf over from house repair put in my oven, and sometimes I used ceramic tray that came with microwave oven too. I actually just leave mine in there all the time. I have had good results with this method. 2022 KITCHENSANITY KitchenSanity is a trademark of KitchenSanity.com. It does need to be bone dry and needs to be warmed slowly and thoroughly before you take it up to high temp. Just always make sure you put it in the oven before you turn the oven on. I have the unglazed red quarry tiles and have put them on the bottom rack in the oven. If that is what you have, you should be fine. I was wondering if anyone can advise me. Mine is solid and heavy. they are super easy to make so it shouldnt cost anything at all. Also stands up to intense direct heat better (LBE, charcoal grill, etc. are you REALLY asserting that the new fancy stones make that huge of a difference to the hot-rocks that people have been cooking on for centuries? It is absolutely essential that they are unglazed. I explained what it was for, and neither said "oh no that sounds dangerous and/or poisonous!" plus, all the money you save by baking your own instead of buying (not to mention the nutritional and emotional satisfactions, but that's another story) will more than pay for the extra up front cost of the stone. Cool, thanks for the insight. Part time Pizzameister - Full time Geologist. Will it blow up in my oven? Not sure if that was the best approach but it was mine this first go around. The tiles have to be unglazed You won't be dissappointed. If in doubt contact the manufacturer. Especially when it comes to pizza, that ever-important underside char and blistering (sometimes known as the "upskirt" ) will only ever come with a stone, which you can get absolutely blazing hot over a long oven preheat. After confusing a couple of Home Depot employees and having them look up some specs on a few tiles I found at their store, I was successful. Also ALWAYS put the tiles into a cold oven and heat with them in place. Our local lowes has a big 18x18 porcelain tile, unglazed for a whopping $6.50. I built a "house" or a square box out of the brick and got about a 12x18 cooking surface that is covered up. js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.8"; (though ceramic is more of a heat insulator). Someday I'll get a large terracotta flower pot and make a cloche for the bread to self-steam. That is how the laws reads.I am free and so is anyone else to build something that looks like a 2Stone pizza oven for your personal use, and I clearly stated that in my previous message. Every time I ask a home depot employee for unglazed tiles of any kind I get a blank stare in return. Kiln shelves are like 20-100 bucks depending on the size/shape. The problem that I have is that many of these discussions turn on using tiles and other refractory materials purchased in garden centers, flooring departments, scrap bins, and other sources never intended for food preparation use. I let them bake at max temperature for 1 hour. In electronics, you can buy interchangeable audio-amp ICs for $1:40, or $4:95 or $8:50 or $35:00. Soapstones are often massive but they cut/saw easily because of the fine micas in them. However, I've never met anyone else who has actually done this. All that matters is that you get what you need to do the type of baking you want to do. Find something that works for you and use it. not as cheap. Just a thought. What about just using fire brick, it is expensive up here but then it has all ready been shipped. A glaze on the tile can contain lead, and when subjected to the heat of the oven, this can transfer to the food you're cooking, possibly into the air. after all, people have been eating off porcelain (and chewing with it) for centuries. So my question is: what should I do about this smoking baking stone? Perfect pictures. It's 17 1/2" x 14 3/8", a whopping 3/4" thick, and comes with a 10-year warranty and free shipping. I use an unglazed piece of Italian terra cotta that set me back $1.50. I also have a regular Baking Stone made by Best I got from Sur La Table that I have used for a couple of years. but, and this is sort of to the point Copyu is saying just below, (I think its below crazy forum program) if someone is very tight on money, and they need to buy a drill bit for what is most likely a one-time project, or that would do "good enough" for 90% of the projects they are likely to see in the next 5 years, unless they expect some of those projects to appriciate the difference, the buck-fifty drill bit will probably serve perfectly well as the $5-10 carbide one would. In it, he describes using the quarry stone instead of an expensive pizza stone. This is only valid if your home depot knows what the hell saltillo or unglazed quarry tile are. Can ceramic tiles be used instead? 12 bricks = $16 for me. They're probably 20 yrs old. They are pretty cheap at the home stores and I think I've only had to replace one in the last eight years. I hope Willard has termendous success with his design, I publicly and privately have stated that, none the less, a patent does not prevent a person to outright copy a trademarked and patented design for personal use. I used 3 1/2 tiles wide by 2 1/2 tiles deep for each shelf. The small space inside seems like it could be very confining for a good amount of money. but more fragile, and needs to be heated gradually at first, or when exposed to water (I assume not counting the water IN the bread?) I pruchase one from KAF though I don't believe it is as big $54. After I seasoned the "stone" I whipped up my second attempt at FloydM's pain sur poolish and made two of the ugliest shaped loaves I've ever seen with some WONDERFUL oven spring, crust, and crumb. Some had a polished surface, with very few 'inclusions' and were often used indoors; about 10-12" was a popular size for 'hacienda'-style homes.They required a fair bit of 'finishing' by the builder or homeowner after being laid. Preheat the oven to your desired temperature usually around 450 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour. (which, I do not entirely blame them for, <10 bucks for something that works perfectly fine, for now, seems like far less than 50 bucks for good. Also, the tile was 16 x 16 inches. This is because they are made from "refined" clay in a powdered form. These things are essentially just really cheap tiles often installed in commercial settings or other high-traffic areas. > If you have a potter's supplies near you, there are. as it is intended to go on the floor, the weight of a loaf is not going to distress it too much. For me, they get the job done and the price is right. I dont mind this at all, since I dont have to worry about 'breaking it in'. there are times where its foolish NOT to get the high grade tool. For the toime being I use a similar product I received from my father, when the large commercial bakery he worked for was refitting their ovens with baking stones surfaces. https://www.target.com/p/airbake-pizza-pan-15-75/-/A-73892#lnk=sametab Highly recommended. Well, now I've joined them. I have gone through a box of Saltillo tile for they break each time they are used. From a time served baker who has never tired of pulling loaves from an oven. Well worth the $46, IMHO. Granite a health risk? So if its good enough to use slate in a traditional oven, it should be good enough for a modern one. There likely are others. This site is powered by Drupal. I've used unglazed quarry tiles for years in my oven--I just leave them there all the time. Greetings from the Wicklow Mountains (Granite). It is basically the size of my oven rack, with an inch or so on all sides. I decided to google a masonry supply store nearby. I applaud the thrift and frugality that is displayed on this group, but I have also seen the results of long-term industrial poisoning and they are not pretty. I put the bricks inside the oven with the racks still in it. I will contend that tiles made for flooring and wall applications are in no way made with food production in mind. Image of quarry tiles. Ever walked down a busy street or been stuck in traffic? The ovenhadn'teven gotten up over 300 degrees or so when this started to happen. I have the same Old Stone Oven stone that uncleozzy recommends, and I have had it for more than twenty years now. He buys the best ones, individuallyhe always chooses HSS over Carbon steel, or carbide over HSS, if available. if you really want to get fancy, usually where you can find kiln shelves you can find potters. When I brought it home for the fist time and started preheating the oven with it inside, it started producing a lot of smoke and that burning oil smell. Both work out good. It gets scraped with a spatula (if necessary) and then wiped down with a soapy rag, but it never gets washed like a plate. Like, did you take out the oven shelves and just build the box? look in the phone book for tile suppliers, if you have a dal-tile nearby its garanteed they have em or call a tile installer, he'll know who is selling commercial tile in town.
Ask MetaFilter is a question and answer site that covers nearly any question on earth, where members help each other solve problems. asking the guy at Lowes, he seemed to know *exactly* what I was referring to as "unglazed quarry tiles", and said that they did not carry that anymore. perhaps if i refrained from having a point of view and stating it, no one would be discouraged and then i could double or triple my prices to the point where they're comparable to those charged by other sellers of quality bread baking ingredients. Andrew. as a friend's grandmother used to say i'm sorry that you found my post offensive, A Weekend Roundup (And One Simple Formula). Here a link: Tatoosh, it looks as if it was a well thought out job. Agreed Peter, Perhaps we can also discuss how many national pizza chain recipes are also posted here, studied, posts exchanged to duplicate their recipes,seemingly for private use only, of course. I'll have to heat it up one of these days and just live with the smoke for an hour or two (hopefully not longer)! I was just watching a Good Eats episode (Flat Breads) that had to do with pizza. that said, i am still very much of the opinion that tools matter, and that people who have more than a passing commitment to bread baking -- like anyone who's passionate about a creative pastime -- ought to invest in the best tools they can afford -- no matter where they acquire them. Anywho, thanks in advance for any insight. However I can build anything I like for my personal use, and so can anyone else, well except a still for distilling alcohol, actually here in Mexico I can, but I digress. Larger tiles tend to cost about three dollars each. Whats the distinctive smell at the fuel station every time you go to fill your car? When you say unglazed tiles, what do these look like, grey, brown, etc. as i said at the beginning of that post, i've been called a curmudgeon more than once . diplomacy simply isn't my strong suit (maybe it's my NYC DNA). They are American made and I had no problem finding a phone number. I'd read about people who were cool and did this, eschewing the overpriced piece of stone and visiting building-supply stores instead, where they bought unglazed tiles for pennies. Theres just something about a pizza that was made using a pizza stone that is that little bit extra mouth-wateringly delicious. I live in a small city and feared there would be none close enough to warrant this venture, but I found one about 10 minutes away. I think it's called an unglazed saltillo tile (Terracotta).
I read all the opinions presented in this site and my head was sent twirling. I have built ovens very similar to Willard`s and will continue to do so, I wish him much success, but no way this forum could have some lawsuit come down, because we are not selling them and taking away from his profits from his work. My trouble is that I would like to find a 3rd oven rack so I can try some different configurations and don't have to move the rack with the tiles so much. Do I know for a fact that any of the tiles or "stone" you purchase in a garden center are industrial refractories purchased out of the scrap bin and "repurposed"? js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; When I make pizza, I preheat the oven @ 550 for a good 45 minutes and the pizza comes out great. (keep in mind I work by O'Hare airport in Chicago and the Fibrament company is located on Chicago's south side but it still was GREAT turnaround). "Slate": foodsafe(its pure cut stone, afterall, right?) get in touch with reality. var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; The salesperson knew exactly what I was looking for when I mentioned I needed tiles for lining an oven shelf. Are they as good as the highest-quality tones, like the Fibrament that pizza afficionados rave about ? You have encouraged me to try this. To use the smaller ones as a baking surface, you must line them up on your oven rack or the floor of your oven. I have read many theories and tried some experiements myself, but I am not convinced that we amateur bakers really know what is going on when the dough hits the flat hot part. Btw, how long does it take to heat up/ preheat a tile prior to baking? Be sure you leave a few inches of clearance on the sides for good air circulation in the oven. All posts copyright their original authors. Login with username, password and session length. Both are made in the US and I couldn't tell any difference - love the results from both. The concern is with glazed tiles which may contain and may release lead in your oven - not a good thing! engineered stones don't crack: they remain stable to temps of 1000F plus for fibrament and 2000F plus for cordierite. it is just my opinion that you could have recognized that some people may not find the investment worthwhile, and/or simply not be able to afford it, better than you do. I can build an exact copy of whatever I want for personal use, as long as I do not infringe on the trademark patent and sell it as an orginal idea. meh. They are red tiles, almost like saltillo tiles. It will tell you what chemical compounds were used in the manufacture of the product. Will I die if I bake on it? All original site content copyright 2022 The Fresh Loaf unless stated otherwise. Your mileage may vary, but it's worth a shot. Willard`s design does not include vertical tiles. He posted it here. as a matter of fact if you look at the kitchen pics in bread bakers apprentice you can see them in peters oven. He also said they can be left in the oven rather than having to remove it after use. I was in the tile industry (installations) for 20+yrs While I don't know the answer to this, and I doubt everyone would agree if this is a good idea. This discovery was lost amidst the technical aspects of fermentation and gluten-development in my homemade square pizza post last week (even I was confused by the end). I purchased them at Color Tile (a local tile distributor in the Chicago area) for $0.69 per 6" x 6" tile. The chemical vapour coming from hot oil? Are there possibly some chemicals on a kiln shelf that you would not want on your pizza? For $3 or $4 at home depot you cant go to far wrong. When you go this route, be sure to choose tiles that have not been glazed. > ceramic sheets to go into kilns on which pottery is fired . as for my attitude discouraging "at least one person" from buying from The New York Bakers, i'm sorry that's the case. I found a 12"x12" tile at Homedepot but the clerk said he didn't know if it contained any harmful substances. Much cheaper than a larger, more "official" pizza stone or such, and I'd guess the results are similar. 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. I finally broke down and bought a FibraMent stone. Brick-clay tilesunglazed earthenware tilesthat's what 'quarry tiles' were, where I lived before. I leave my tiles in the oven all the time, no matter what I'm cooking. Notable Exception: I am aware of one handmade baking stone on the market that is glazed.
The ugly part was my fault as my dough stuck to my cutting board (AKA fake Peel) in spite of the corn meal I had sprinkled down to avoid such an outcome. After you're finished, you can put that tool in a 'safe place' and it doesn't really matter if you never find it again. I have no doubt the fancy modern baking stones perform better and last longer and are more durable, and when I get rich some day, get a fancy oven and so on, I'm sure I'll spend the money to get a high end, fancy stone that will work better than the cheap slab of rock that is far better than nothing, to go in the crappy oven that is my only option at the moment. It has never, Stones of all types can retain a lot of water. The small ones are quite thin and naturally do not conduct heat as well as a single, continuous, heavy stone or tile. I bought one at Home Depot. I can't really find any info on this on the googles. I thought someone said in one of these threads, that it could have lead or other non-foodsafe things, if its not a variety actually made for cooking? It has become public domain. Six of them line up to make plenty of room (one added advantage is that the surface is a rectangle rather than a circle). I *AGREE* that the overall "answer" is that if you are "serious" and you can afford it, that the fancy stones may very well be completely worth it. I remove them, if for no other reason than it seems like it takes more time and energy to heat the oven when they are in there. I figure my time alone is worth that much. Just make sure ypu leave a gap of at lease 1-2" on all sides for air circulation. One or two a year might break, but at $1 or less each at home improvement stores, they're easy to replace. Do you remove the oven tiles for regular baking/cooking? it would be SILLY to buy the expensive one. We keep ours in the oven full time, and leave it in there no matter what we're cooking. Generally allow an hour for the oven and tiles to heat fully. one of the things that rarely gets discussed is thermal stability, i.e., what happens when you pour a cup or two of ice water on a stone that's been sitting in a 500F oven for a couple of hours. while sometimes you get what you pay for, other times you can get 80-90% of the functionality for 10% of the cost, and for some people its either 10% of the cost, or nothing, and the performance difference is nil, either because they are simply not that picky, or because they are inexperienced enough to not be able to see the difference if they had it. Anyone can build an exact copy of the 2Stone for personal use. The end result is a more uniform tile, thus it is stronger. thanks so much and the bread looks terrific. As a result I dropped the money on a 20x16x5/8" cordierite slab. They fit well in my oven and I did a test run this weekend with pizza and bread. I'm pleased to say I placed my order on Fibrament's WWW site very early on a Thursday morning and received my stone mid-afternoon Friday using standard shipping. They are exactly like this. he could order them but that was like 11 square feet coverage of them, in 8" tiles. Place the stone alternative into the oven before turning the oven on. This is especially true if youre using the smaller ones and will need to get multiples and line them up. They are thick and if the ones in my wood stove are any indication very tough. I think your best bet is to read the manufacturer's spec sheet on the stone/tile. They run like a dollar at the hardware store. I just put the glazed side down and bake on the rough side. Put heavy, uneven weight on one suddenly and you will eventually break it. I have been using unglazed quarry tile for baking bread over the past several years with no detrimental affects. fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); We were given one of the fancy, rectangular pizza stones when we got married in 1996 and we have used it once (or more!) This one does, as does my design.I do stand corrected in my first post on Willard`s design. I leave them in all of the time (too lazy to remove them) but that is at a cost of longer preheating times. The most important thing is that they are UNGLAZED. I spent whole day reading about different quarry tiles and was wondering if anybody might put on some pictures of thestones they use. Could it contain any harmful chemicals, lead or dyes? I really LOVE my hearth Kit. Home Depot will cut it for you. He said the tile being porous is key; I think he said something about it absorbing water. Hi bakers. I do leave them in the oven all the time (not the box, just the ones I'm using :-P ). My bread is turning out markedly better looking and I'm enjoying the "brick oven" feel without the expense of building out one. In woodworking, a professional furniture-maker is likely to use certain drill bits almost every working day of his life and his specialties are likely to need only a few sizes. I covered two shelves in my home quality electric range for les than $15.00.
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