Best pizza stone

[Buzilo]

Hey Everyone,

So I tried using pizza pan but I want to go back to the pizza stone because it gets the best results.  I used to have it on the BGE but they do not make the size I need for the 21".  The 14 is too small and the big stone they make is too big and won't fit.  I am looking for 16 - 19 inch pizza stone and I want something as good or better than the BGE pizza stone.   

Before you say KK pizza stone, it's about 150+ US for shipping for me so it costs more than the stone.  I need something I can buy in the US or Canada. Anyone have any recommendations? 

[BOC]

I don’t have experience with it, but remembered seeing on Instagram that the bread guy really likes the Fibrament D

FibraMent-D Rectangular Home Oven Baking Stone Three Sizes (15 x 20" Ship to Lower 48 States) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EXWTXVI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_7G5QQTMGWT80W5P0E24F

[Pequod]

Depends on the type of pizza, but I usually use steel, not stone: https://bakingsteel.com/collections/steels/products/baking-steel-round

[Buzilo]

What’s the benefit of the steel? Also when you say depending on the pizza type, what type is it good for and what’s not good? Thank you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Buzilo]

On a side note, if anyone has experience with steel and stone it would be nice to have some input. I read online but information is inconsistent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pequod]

8 hours ago, buzilo said:

What’s the benefit of the steel? Also when you say depending on the pizza type, what type is it good for and what’s not good? Thank you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Steel is about 15x higher heat transfer than stone. Very high initial thermal “punch.” It’s best for thin crust NY or Neapolitan style pizzas where you want a leopard spotting on the bottom. Put another way, pizzas that you’d normally do at high temps (think 650+) work well with a steel at lower temp (500-550). Pizzas that you’d do at 450-500 — e.g. deep dish - don’t benefit as much from steel.

[Pequod]

8 hours ago, buzilo said:

On a side note, if anyone has experience with steel and stone it would be nice to have some input. I read online but information is inconsistent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have both for different reasons as above. Here’s a thin NY style on steel:

Here are two Chicago style south side thin pizzas on stone in my 32. Each is 14”. I wouldn’t do these on steel due to different style of crust and longer, lower temp cook. 

Detroit style on stone:

Another use for steel: smash burgers. Again, need the high heat transfer to get the right char.

[Pequod]

More data. The bottom of a NY thin crust baked on a steel. Note the leopard spotted goodness. 

And here’s the bottom of a south side thin baked on stone. Exactly what it is supposed to be. Brown. Crispy. No leopards.

[Syzygies]

I own several thicknesses of Baking Steel, a Fibrament-D stone, and a KK stone from Dennis.

The Baking Steel rocks as a burger griddle, but then you wreck it for anything else. I dedicate it to tortillas from house-made masa from nixtamal from corn from Masienda. For this purpose their Oaxacan corn beats Anson Mills. Fresh tacos is quite the process but entirely worth it. Masienda primarily targets high-end Mexican restaurant; there are stories of Mexican chefs in tears remembering their childhoods, when they first smell tortillas cooking from this corn.

We also use the Baking Steel stovetop for sourdough English muffins, which doesn't wreck its seasoning.

Fibrament-D and the Dennis KK stone are similar, but the KK stone fits better. There's PhD science behind baking stones, and Dennis has entirely mastered this physics. I remember old threads where we discussed stone characteristics. There are two primary issues: How long a stone takes to heat up, and how quickly it returns the heat to pizza. Think superball bounce. Fibrament-D used to resist selling thick stones to consumers, because unlike a pizza shop where the oven stays on all day, a thick stone takes too long to heat up. And people do worry about fuel consumption heating a thick stone in a KK. I don't; the KK does pretty well once it reaches cruising altitude, and I consider it an honor to get to supply my KK with fuel. The Dennis KK stone is thick, and I don't consider this an issue.

A Baking Steel is ideal for Neopolitan pizza, nothing else. Neopolitan pizza cooks extremely fast. One can fall into the trap of believing that's the only kind of pizza, the platonic ideal to which we should all aspire. I don't, I have too many other variables in play, like grinding my own flour. I vastly prefer baking pizza or bread on stone.

If you do go down the Baking Steel rabbit hole, don't congratulate yourself just yet. There are those who prefer aluminum or copper. Learn why, and be prepared to defend your choice.

[Buzilo]

Amazing review, since I am getting a 32 now I can put everything in the order and not worry about the shipping cost so for sure I’ll be getting the baking stone along with a few other accessories. Now I’m just excited the wait is going to be hard


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tekobo]

6 hours ago, Syzygies said:

I dedicate it to tortillas from house-made masa from nixtamal from corn from Masienda. For this purpose their Oaxacan corn beats Anson Mills. Fresh tacos is quite the process but entirely worth it. Masienda primarily targets high-end Mexican restaurant; there are stories of Mexican chefs in tears remembering their childhoods, when they first smell tortillas cooking from this corn.

Nooooo, don't drag me down this rabbit hole @Syzygies.  I spent some time investigating nixtamalisation and found that getting a decent piece of kit to grind the corn properly is a fool's game unless you want to buy an industrial machine from Mexico.  Please tell me that it is the Masienda flour that you buy and that you haven't found a way to nixtamalise and grind the corn yourself.  If it is the former then I will calm down and think about getting the flour when I next make it to the US.  If it is the latter I would like to know how you do it and then I will worry about how far down this rabbit hole I want to follow.  

[tekobo]

9 hours ago, Pequod said:

And here’s the bottom of a south side thin baked on stone. Exactly what it is supposed to be. Brown. Crispy. No leopards.

And anatomically correct i.e. square cut.  I have not followed your South Side Thin recipe in at least a year, if not more.  Mouth watering.  On the to do list.    

[Pequod]

2 hours ago, tekobo said:

And anatomically correct i.e. square cut.  I have not followed your South Side Thin recipe in at least a year, if not more.  Mouth watering.  On the to do list.    

Of course. Wedges are for...coastal elites. 

[tekobo]

For the uninitiated, see above for @Pequod's post about the Chicago Thin.  I can just taste that fennel sausage now.  One to make very very soon. 

[jonj]

Thanks for the reminder of this recipe. I plan to give this a try once the weather gets better.

[Syzygies]

On 2/15/2021 at 2:27 AM, tekobo said:

If it is the latter I would like to know how you do it and then I will worry about how far down this rabbit hole I want to follow.  

Oh come on, you know me, was there ever any doubt?

Quote

“Once we all get the courage to just follow through on our instincts like Malkovich has,” observes Sean Penn in a mischievous cameo, “I think that a lot of us will move in to puppetry.” 

I started a thread on making nixtamal from Masienda corn, to consolidate what I've posted on other threads such as here:

Nixtamal / masa / tacos from Masienda Oaxacan corn

Edited February 26, 2021 by Syzygies

[tekobo]

I love you and I hate you @Syzygies.  The good news for me is that I have gone far enough down this rabbit hole myself to be able to stop myself diving headlong into your side burrow, yet.  So far I have found:

Flour tortillas can be very good.  I roll them with a rolling pin and am trying different variations.  The most recent one included chicken fat from a roast chicken and tasted finger lickin' good. 

I cook them on this Indian chapati pan.  It heats up well enough and, after a quick flip on this pan I sometimes place the tortilla direct on a gas flame.  Helps give them a bit of puff and a bit of char.

For corn tortilla I use the standard masa harina.  I get that Mexicans weep at the taste of home when they get the real stuff but I have never had it and so can console myself with the fact that what I make will taste better than if I bought pre made tortillas from a store.  I am not in the market for a press because I have these two.  The first is a brutish piece of kit that I picked up in a local Mexican store in Houston, Texas and the second is a fancy pants press made here in the UK.  I follow your method to avoid sticking and to get even pressure but I use waxed paper squares that I have for wrapping apples rather than a plastic bag.

With all of that said... I am still very interested in trying to make my own masa.  I had previously followed the trail of the Nixtamatic, found some unfavourable reviews and was relieved not to have to contemplate figuring out how to get one to the UK.  I will look up your other recommendations.  The Macienda site that you posted earlier does describe doing this at home with an ordinary food processor. There is also the option to do it manually using a matate.  Have you tried one of those?  How did we get here from a pizza stone post?  

[Syzygies]

7 minutes ago, tekobo said:

I love you and I hate you

 

Ooh! My kind of relationship!

7 minutes ago, tekobo said:

The Macienda site that you posted earlier does describe doing this at home with an ordinary food processor. There is also the option to do it manually using a matate.  Have you tried one of those? 

My friend who turned me on to fresh masa years ago tried a food processor and was disappointed. Think about it; why would Indians buy wet grinders if food processors did the trick? He ended up borrowing my Vita-Prep commercial blender, using too much water, and thickening back to masa with masa harina. Half and half is still better than nothing. This by the way is the way to make a Thai curry paste; just borrow some of the coconut cream you'll later fry in, and let the Vita-Prep replace an hour's work with a mortar and pestle.

I used to own a Sumeet Indian food processor. It felt like India. It worked great while it lasted, but even a Sumeet isn't up to nixtamal.

My first mill for grinding flour (for flour tortillas and chapatis, of course) was a Samap Manual Grain Mill. It would take me half an hour to produce enough flour for a batch of pasta, then I'd need a shower. No, I haven't tried a matate. Even Mexicans just finish on a metate, after doing the bulk of the work with a hand mill.

[Laurie]

26 minutes ago, tekobo said:

Flour tortillas can be very good.  I roll them with a rolling pin and am trying different variations.  The most recent one included chicken fat from a roast chicken and tasted finger lickin' good. 

When my daughter was growing up, we made flour tortillas from home-ground flour multiple times a week for bean and cheese burritos. She was a rather conservative eater, so we stuck with palm shortening or olive oil, but the chicken fat sounds yummy! 

We haven't gotten to serve her the homemade corn tortillas yet, after the pandemic, I hope.

[Syzygies]

1 hour ago, tekobo said:

the second is a fancy pants press made here in the UK.

Now I love you and I hate you, too.

Netherton Foundry - Black Iron Tortilla Press created for KOL restaurant