Pizza stone

[Pizzaboyo]

Hi Folks, can you tell me is it possible for a stone to "lose" it's ability to retain heat?? The reason I ask is I've noticed lately that my pizzas are not browning as much as usual on the base and this is the only reason I can think of.

[scott123]

The composition dictates a stones baking abilities, and, since heat/use doesn't change the composition of the stone, the baking properties don't change either.

Ovens, on the other hand, can fluctuate, and, more likely, doughs can run the gamut of higher to lower residual sugars and very in their acid content, depending on how they're treated.

Have you been altering your recipe/dough management at all?

[Pizzaboyo]

  I knew someone would ask me about altering my recipe. I don't measure Scott  so to answer your question YES I alter my recipe every time I make a dough. I know this will probably be frowned on here but it does me as I'm a home cook who enjoys my pizzas and a beer. 

[Pizzaboyo]

The composition dictates a stones baking abilities, and, since heat/use doesn't change the composition of the stone, the baking properties don't change either.

Ovens, on the other hand, can fluctuate, and, more likely, doughs can run the gamut of higher to lower residual sugars and very in their acid content, depending on how they're treated.

Have you been altering your recipe/dough management at all?

I took your comments on board Scott123 and decided to try out the dough calculator last week and there was a difference alright  (it seems I was making a very wet dough, but not so wet it couldn't be rolled/tossed) I also read elsewhere that stones can be power washed and lightly sanded so that was done too. The problem with the dough calculator for me is my digital scales does not show .000g or oz  so today I've tried a new calculation and rounded it up/down to suit if anyone can cast an eye over it and give tweaks if needed I really appreciate it.

Here it is. . . . .Flour (100%):    195 g
                     Water (60%):    117 g
                     ADY (.75%):            1 g
                      Salt (0.5%):            1 g
                      Oil (1%):            2 g
                      Sugar (2%):            4 g

I'll be cooking this tonight so I'll keep ye posted.

[scott123]

Pizzaboyo, congratulations on the move towards more consistent pizzamaking 

Weighing ingredients is important, but you don't have to weigh them all. It's really the flour where weight is critical.  Weigh the flour and the water, and, if you're using a large enough recipe where the salt sugar and the oil are more than 5 g, I'd weigh those as well.

With your current quantities, though, I'd use measuring spoons for the salt, sugar, oil and yeast. If you plug everything into the calculator, you'll get teaspoon/tablespoon quantities.

[Pizzaboyo]

Cheers Scott, the calculators excellent BUT how do I measure 0.16 tsp etc.

[scott123]

Cheers Scott, the calculators excellent BUT how do I measure 0.16 tsp etc.

There's a few ways to approach this. Pinch, dash and smidgeon measuring spoons are very useful to own:

http://www.amazon.com/Pinch-Dash-Smidgen-Measuring-Spoons/dp/B000E8OPVS

A pinch is 1/8 t, which is .125, and a smidgeon is 1/32 t., which is .03125, so a pinch and a smidgeon would give you .155.

Some regular measuring spoon sets have 1/8 t., so if you don't have a smidgeon, you can go with a slightly rounded 1/8 t., and that should be fine.

Assuming this is yeast you're measuring, you can also just round up (to 1/4 t.) and adjust your fermentation time and/or temperature.  Yeast quantities in recipes are going to be ballpark figures anyway, and will eventually have to be tweaked to fit your environmental variables and schedule.  If a little additional yeast gives you a dough that's ready before you need it, then work at lower temperatures by lowering the water temp and/or decreasing time spent outside the fridge.  You can also just bake the pizza earlier, and, the next time you work with this formula, just work within that time frame.

[bfguilford]

I finally bought a small digital scale that measures (or claims to measure) to 1/100 of a gram. It was around $15-16 at Amazon. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_7/187-6450022-5609445?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=acpro-200&sprefix=acpro-2%2Caps%2C193

Barry

[BarbReyn10]

Help...

How do you correctly use the pizza stone?  Sorry for the stupid question..but I have read people keep then in the oven all the time....then how do you get the pizza on it if it is cooked on it.

Confused

Thanks

Barb

[norma427]

Help...

How do you correctly use the pizza stone?  Sorry for the stupid question..but I have read people keep then in the oven all the time....then how do you get the pizza on it if it is cooked on it.

Confused

Thanks

Barb

Barb,

It is not a stupid question to ask how to use a pizza stone.  Different members use different kinds of pizza stones.  Usually if you want to make a NY style or American style pizza you would just heat up your oven for about an hour with the pizza stone in the oven.  Usually, for NY style pizzas the closer your temperature on the pizza stone can get to around 550 degrees F the better your pies would be if you use a decent dough formulation.  Do you have a digital scale to measure ingredients and an IR thermometer to take the temperature on a pizza stone?

If you use the search word pizza stone on the main page of this forum in a search, or on the Google search at the bottom of the main page you can get ideas how to use a pizza stone.  What kind of pizza do you want to make?

I keep my pizzas stone in the oven most of the time, but do take it out if I need more space.

Norma 

[weemis]

I keep my pizza stone in the oven, but it's just out of laziness. I, too, preheat my oven (as high as my oven can go is 550º, so I set it to that) for about an hour before cooking pizza on it. Stones are used to supply bottom heat to the crust for a balanced cook, so you preheat until the oven and stone are the same temperature If you have an IR thermometer, you can remove the guess work and just preheat till they're both the same temp. I use a flour dusted pizza peel to dress the stretched skin (shaking the peel often to prevent sticking) and then slide it onto the stone, but you can use an upside down pizza pan or maybe a wooden cutting board if you don't have a peel. One rotation about half way through should keep an even browning. Once it's golden brown, you can just slide the pizza onto the peel (sans raw flour) or any other surface. Cut and enjoy! 

hope this helps! 

[Chicago Bob]

Barb,
For just starting out, until you get a pizza peel, I would suggest placing your stretched out dough on parchment paper that you place on the back side of a cookie sheet. Slide the paper and pizza onto your preheated stone and then pull the parchment paper out from under the pizza after just a few minutes of baking. Works great.