Pizza Stone help required

shaunanoelle

We bought a pizza stone a few years ago for about £20 - so the one in Aldi at £3 is fantastic value. You can use the pizza stone for your own bases (and yes wait for the dough to rise - place on the heated stone and pop in the oven.)

However, you can also use it for fresh or frozen shop bought pizzas. So why bother with a pizza stone - it makes the base lovely and crisp and so it makes it taste more like a restaurant made one/take away that has been cooked in a clay oven.

To keep it in good nick - DO NOT wash it with soap and water. Instead - just clean with a cloth when it has cooled down. It does mean that it gets to look a bit dirty - but if you wash it I think it loses it top coat and wont work as well. Hope that helps?

Pretani

Great idea mirandahruby:T That's why I never bothered buying a stone in the first place. I thought I would have to buy a paddle and what if the pizza fell as I tried to slide it onto the stone. Problems now solved, thanks.;)

blueberrypie

mirandahruby wrote: »

The hotter the stone is when you put the pizza on it, the better. We have one from Italy which came with 2 semi-circles of plywood so that you can assemble the pizza on and slide the whole pizza straight onto the stone, meaning that it's out of the oven for the minimum time. You could make these yourself to the right size (allowing extra at the sides for gripping them).

Cookie sheets - the proper kind, with no lip around the edge - work well for this too. I use the large ones that Ikea sells, dusting them with flour (cornmeal is even better) and making the pizza up on them, then sliding it onto the pizza stone.

lbt_2

Hi All

Some lovely person on freecycle has given me a pizza stone. It's in it's original box but doesn't really come with much instruction apart from don't wash with detergent.

Do I need to do anything to prepare the stone before I first use it?

Also, I am assuming I just plop the pizza on top and cook?

My girlies and I make hm pizza most weeks and their friends love to join in too. I love M&S stone baked pizzas so I am really looking forward to using it and don't want to mess it up. Any tips very welcome.

Thanks

lynzpower

1) make sure you have really good oven gloves with this- a rolled up tea towel wont work as I am testimony to

2) Heat the stone for as long as you can as hot as then place the dough on. It can be tricky sliding off a well oiled board seemed to do it for us.

This will make the base A LOT crispier than not heating the stone first.

careful not to overdo the toppings otherwise theyll all fall off and burn in your oven

lbt_2

Poor you! I burnt my fingers last week and ended up in A&E, eventually coming out with four bandaged fingers.

The pizza stone is quite big so what do I do if any toppings fall onto it? Just wash off with water once the stone is cold?

Getting the pizza on the stone was the bit I thought might be tricky - maybe I'll start with some small pizzas first!

Got dog training this afternoon so I can't try it out today so it's on our menu for tomorrow.

Do you find the taste much different?

Thanks

Adain_2

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic

Bunny200

Morrisons £5 atm

blueberrypie

Adain wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic

Slightly peculiar comment there...

I'm betting this is someone trying to get their post-count up so they can post links...

blushingbride_3

Hey i have a pizza stone & love it, however i find it difficult to clean! how does everyone else clean theres?