“Making Homemade Pizza? Use a Baking Stone”

“Making Homemade Pizza? Use a Baking Stone”

It’s no surprise that Americans are crazy for pizza.  According to the National Association of Pizza Operators we consume about 350 slices of pizza per second, or 100 acres of pizza each day.  Pizza lovers have long argued whether it’s the sauce, the cheese or the toppings that make the pizza, but I beg to differ, our love affair with pizza begins with the crust.

Many pizza establishments today use a brick oven to make their pies.  Generally, this type of oven cooks the pizza very quickly and therefore is able to retain moisture in the dough making it light and crispy without burning the bottom.  When my kids were little, being the gourmet cook that I was, we would make “real” pizza using Boboli crust.  3 and 4 year olds, at least mine, were not that discerning, and at the time neither was I.  We thought this was delicious, but then again most of our meals back in those days came in a paper bag and included a plastic toy.  In the years to follow, our tastes and kitchen skills have evolved.  I have graduated to making actual home-made pizza, and have come to learn the only way to do it, in my opinion, is on a pizza or baking stone, since there is no way I am going to shell out thousands of dollars for my own brick oven.

So, you may be asking yourself why you’d want to use a baking stone, is there really that much of a difference?  There is, as long as you use the stone correctly.  Besides the above-mentioned attributes of brick oven cooking (remember, the stone simulates this for us home cooks) a good pizza or baking stone acts as a heat conductor, distributing heat evenly, so no hot or cold spots which equals even cooking.  It also helps keep the pizza crust from becoming soggy, not a good attribute in a crust. 

If you’re going to try using a stone, make sure you get one that is pretty thick, about ¾ of an inch or more.  Make certain to heat the stone in the oven at 500 degrees for at least an hour, and then turn the oven down to the proper temperature on the recipe.  Allow the stone to cool down to room temperature before cleaning, don’t use soap to clean it, instead use a plastic scraper to get off any stuck on residue.  It’s also important to remember never to put a hot stone in water or it may crack.  If you’re baking stone comes with instructions that contradict any of the above, follow theirs, and not mine!

And, since I would be remiss if I didn’t combine two of my favorite pastimes (shopping and eating!) here is a list of pizza/baking stones you might want to check out:

From Crate & Barrel, has handles: Click Here

Ceramic from Williams Sonoma: Click Here

Pizza Baking Stone FDA food safety approved from King Arthur Flour: Click Here

Rectangular Cookie Sheet Pizza Stone at Bed Bath & Beyond: Click Here

Happy Pizza Making!  Let me know how it goes!

Suellen Meyers is a self-professed (decaf) Starbucks addict with the ability to return anything to any store at any time due to her 11-year stint in retail.  Subsequent careers in sales and business ownership followed.  Suellen recently went back to school and chronicles her experiences in her blog License to Bake.  Now on the path to becoming a full-fledged writer (got a job for her – send her an email) she lives in Henderson, Nevada, with her husband who may or may not be over-educated and her two amazingly talented sons as well as their two dogs.  You can contact her at suzyq221@gmail.com.  To read her blog go to www.licensetobake.blogspot.com or at www.MyLocalPizzaGuy.com

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