2 Pizza Stones

[jaycanada]

I'm thinking of buying a second pizza stone and putting it on the top rack 4 inches higher than the other pizza stone. My theory is that it's going to hold and reflect more heat at the top of the pizza than the tin foil I have covering the top rack presently. The tin foil helps to create a smaller oven and trick the heat sensor, but it doesn't do much for the top of the pizza

Has anyone tried this? My oven goes above 700 so I'm getting great char on the bottom but nothing on the top.

Thanks

[canadianbacon]

Hey Jay,

I'd go for it.  Wal-mart Canada now stocks 16" pizza stones for $9.99. ( a very good deal )

at that price, you can experiment, and it won't cost you much.  I have one on the bottom and
one on the top in my oven, and I swear it helps.

The upper one needs to be pretty close to the top of the pizza in order to give any benefit,
and it has to be really hot, or else the opposite effect will be achieved, but in your oven, I bet
it will really work well with the high temp you can get.  My oven goes up to about 550 F max.

Get that upper stone hot, and have it no more than a few inches from the top of your pizza,
and I bet you'll get great results.  It's the closest thing in terms of imitating a deck style oven ( low ceiling )

[Pete-zza]

jaycanada,

I have experimented from time to time with multiple stones but not at the high temperatures that you can get with your oven. See, for example, the photos at
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,504.msg28424.html#msg28424 (Reply 131) and http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1298.msg23927.html#msg23927 (Reply 250). As between the two methods shown in these posts, I think the one using tiles at the sides worked better. However, unless your oven is quite wide, and/or your bottom stone is quite wide (and also deep), the tiles at the sides limit the size of pizza you can bake on the lower stone. And you have to be careful that you don’t hit the tiles with the peel when depositing the pizza onto the lower stone.

I agree with canadianbacon that it would be preferable to have the upper stone close to the top of the pizza on the lower stone, but I have discovered that that method does not give one much room to easily and squarely deposit a pizza on the bottom stone, especially a pizza that is, say, 14” or greater. There just isn’t much room to maneuver. Also, it is much harder to view the pizza as it bakes because the top stone blocks the view of the pizza (through the glass window in my oven door). Using two stones also requires a longer preheat time to get both of them to the desired temperature. That should be easier in your oven with the higher operating temperature.

My advice is to just experiment with different configurations. You might also consider ways of using the top broiler element to get the desired stone temperatures, especially for the top stone.

Peter

[Pizza_Not_War]

Jay,

You can also put a cast iron pan above as a test. Anything that will hold and radiate the heat back downwards will help out on your baking.

Good luck

What kind of oven is giving you 700 ??


PNW

[jaycanada]

Thanks for all the feedback.

My oven is just an old gas oven. When I turn it on full blast it doesn't shut off! As you can see in the pic below, I have the top rack covered in tin foil. There is a metal piece on the top left side of the oven. I think the temperature reader is in there. I like to think that the tin foil is tricking the reader while keeping the bottom of the oven very hot. I only get heat from the bottom under that cover. But it could just be that the oven is half broken. Either way it works in my favour.

As for the broiler comment. I think if I were to use it, the oven would actually shut off because the reader would know the real temperature. Yesterday I made a pizza and near the end turned the broiler on, got the pizza out of the bottom half and held it up to the broiler for a quick few turns. It was ok but nothing special.

I think I'll buy another stone, and put it under the tin foil as you see it. I'll also bring the top rack down another level. The window on the oven is very hard to see through so unfortunately I have to ooen the door quite a bit, but my results are still pretty good.

I'll post a pic when I try the new set up.

[sourdough girl]

jay,
I have a second stone above and I really like it that way.  I have an electric oven that goes to 550^o F, but it has 6 slots for racks... and one of the racks is, hmmm.... countersunk?  don't know how to describe it (maybe I'll just take a photo worth a thousand words!) but it puts the rack just above the bottom of the oven.  Since the rack slots are closer together than normal, I can put the second stone very close to the top of the pizza.  As Peter mentions, it makes the pie hard to see (and a bit trickier to get onto the bottom stone), but I've made so many now that I pretty much know when I'm getting close to the end of the bake, and the window is low enough that I can still see the edge of the pie even with the door closed. 

I notice that the top of the pie is cooked better this way and I don't have to do any juggling to the broiler above.  I really think the second stone is a plus, probably even when it's not in such close proximity.

~sd

[Pete-zza]

Several years ago, Steve, the Administrator of this forum, came up with a two stone method that was later written up at theartisan.net at http://www.theartisan.net/pizzabas.htm (toward the end of the page).

Peter

[alconnell]

I have taken this a step further by using unglazed quarry tiles on top in a double layer, cut so that it essentially fills the entire upper rack.  This method seems to trap the heat nicely, allowing the cheese to brown along with the crust.  Cost about $10 to get the tiles from Home Depot and I had to cut a few to get a good fit.  It also allows me to use an 18" screen on the top layer.