The Quest for a Cheap Pizza Stone......

[pizzasf]

Concurrently with my other post in which I am trying to find an uncoated pan that will produce a great crispy crust, I am firing off this thread to track my journey to find a pizza stone (or multiple stones) big enough to mostly fill an entire shelf of my oven (18" by 21") and pay considerably less than $100, without resorting to kitchen/garden tiles which some have advised may contain some potentially nasty lead or chemicals. It may be an impossible quest to find it this cheap, but lets see what we can find!

The first thing that looks like it may work is: http://www.ceramicssf.com/shelves-posts.htm

TH28     18x18x1     $44.99

Taken from that website "Thorley Kiln shelves and posts are manufactured with superior quality body formulations, well regulated production, quality control, and an exceptionally long and tightly controlled firing cycle.  They are composed of 50% cordierite and 35% mullite, with lesser amounts of corundum and other combined mineralogical forms.   These shelves posses a remarkably high resistance to thermal shock"

Any thoughts on using this to directly cook pizza on? Safety concerns? Practical concerns?

[Bryan S]

Buy yourself a $5.00 pizza screen and see what you think. I use nothing but a screen and love the results. I have a Fibrament stone which I do not use. You have to preheat the oven for a hour .......................... and to me that's a waste for one pizza, IMO 

[lilbuddypizza]

I got lucky and asked around some of the local pizza places what they use. One guy that I know well said he had a large tile that was chipped on the edge and that the company didn't need it returned in order to replace it, so he gave it to me FREE! It fits perfectly in my oven, with barely room to spare. Give it a try.....ask if they can order one for you..it might be cheaper......GOOD LUCK!

[pizzasf]

Great thanks!

Now the holy grail of this for me is to find a big stone, something that will let me bake a 18" pizza, but is still nice and thick.

The closest that I can see at the moment in products readily available for sale is a 16" round stone at Target, which seems thicker than many others at a full 1" thick. It is $36.99. Posting in case anyone is looking for something like this:

http://www.target.com/Pizza-Stone-Round/dp/B000QJBOEQ/sr=1-13/qid=1199566671/ref=sr_1_13/601-3987674-5704960?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Apizza&page=1

Still haven't seen any 18" stones though. The other option is if I can find 4  X 9" stones that will also do the job, but is not as elegant.

[canadianbacon]

If you want a really "cheap" pizza stone, you can try WallyWorld.

Wal-mart up here in Canada just started selling pizza stones about 2 months ago, and they are $9.99,
so maybe at yours, you may get them for $8.99 or a bit less.

My wife picked me one up for the kitchen stove, to replace my very old cracked one, however, I haven't tossed the older
one out, as it still works ( eventhough cracked )

The stones that Wal-mart sells are the round type, about 16" in diameter, and maybe 3/8" thick ( the usual kind you'll find in the kitchen stores in the malls ) ( nothing great, but give very good results if heated for a good 45 mins to 1 hour in the oven before you slide your pizza directly onto it )

[Pete-zza]

pizzasf,

I agree with you that it would be nice to have an 18” stone, and that is what I would recommend and even use for myself if I didn’t already have two stones. However, I have found that if you use an 18” pizza screen, you can make a good 18” pizza even though the stone is smaller than 18”. The stone doesn’t even have to be round. I described such an effort at Reply 260 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,576.msg17113.html#msg17113. I also made an 18” Sbarro’s clone pizza that I described at Reply 56 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2061.msg40413.html#msg40413. I have used the same basic screen/stone combination several times where the pizza stone was smaller than the finished pizza size.

Peter

[pizzasf]

Canadian bacon, thanks for the tip! I will check out Walmart.

Peter, as usual you provide an innovative solution to help us out. I will try this and post results!

[enchant]

The closest that I can see at the moment in products readily available for sale is a 16" round stone at Target, which seems thicker than many others at a full 1" thick.

Unless you've seen it first hand, I suspect you'll find that it's not actually 1" thick.  The description says that the height is 1".  Here is a photo of my stone, held upside-down, so that you can see the "feet".  My stone is an inch high, but only half an inch thick.

[pizzasf]

Those sneaky pizza stone salesman....

 

[Larry Greenly]

Get a kiln shelf that's a couple of inches smaller than the rack of your oven. They're thick, heavy and hold heat well. Take your oven rack to a ceramics shop and try out different kiln shelves to see if one fits. If not, order one from the factory to your desired dimensions. I had one made a few years ago for about $30 and it's great for bread and pizza.

[Pizza#1]

Well i 'am new here and when i looked at the site, i found an area where someone talk about unglazed tile from home depot. that you can use and fit. But i already bought a pizza stone so i don't know if this will work. 

PS this is a great web site keep up the good work.

Pizza#1

[pizzasf]

Great thanks!

Now the holy grail of this for me is to find a big stone, something that will let me bake a 18" pizza, but is still nice and thick.

The closest that I can see at the moment in products readily available for sale is a 16" round stone at Target, which seems thicker than many others at a full 1" thick. It is $36.99. Posting in case anyone is looking for something like this:

http://www.target.com/Pizza-Stone-Round/dp/B000QJBOEQ/sr=1-13/qid=1199566671/ref=sr_1_13/601-3987674-5704960?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Apizza&page=1

Still haven't seen any 18" stones though. The other option is if I can find 4  X 9" stones that will also do the job, but is not as elegant.

FYI all, I bought the pizza stone mentioned above, and have had great results with it. It is about the thickest thing that I have seen in a pizza stone, and very solid and heavy. Highly recommended.