Oneida pizza stone, is it any good?

[F1photo1]

Hello, I am new to this forum and I am looking for a stone. After several trips to to the big box home centers looking for unglazed quarry tiles with no success, I broadened my search to include "Kitchen" stores. I was at Bed Bath & Beyond yesterday and saw an Oneida rectangular 14x15 Pizza/Baking stone for $20. My question is; is it any good?

While reading through the forums I have noticed that many people use a top stone as well. Would the Oneida stone be a decent top stone? My thought is to use the Oneida stone as a temporary stone while continuing to look for unglazed quarry tile or a cordierite shelf, and then use it as a top stone. Or should I save my $20 and keep looking? Thank you.

Mike

[JConk007]

Mike,
I would save it and keep on looking. A good stone can run from $50 to $150 depending on size shape and Material. This is a very important piece of the puzzle to make a good pizza. If you are choosing to use a stone A lot of members on this forum use the Fibra ment That site is www.bakingstone.com I also have seen some nice ones at www.kingarthurflour.com  and www.williams-sonoma.com Recently I saw a nice wolf oven stone (which I have) sell on ebay for $75 the retail on that with rack and peel is $225! I almost bought it for a spare!
You can purchase a screen or disk also at Pizzatools.com to get started
Good luck
John

[jeff v]

I will second what John said-those things crack really easily.

Jeff

[Matthew]

I agree with Jeff & John, Don't waste your money.  The set up that I have in my oven is a corderite shelf on the bottom rack & a Fibrament stone on the upper rack.  I bake my pizza for about 4 minutes on the corderite shelf which hits about 650 degrees & then finish on the fibrament stone under the broiler for about a minute with fantastic results.

Matt

[Essen1]

Mike,

The stuff from Bed & Bath, target and other such stores is crap. It's money out the window.

Get a nice cordierite stone for your home oven. I use a Fibra-D in the LBE but not in my home oven.

http://www.akitchen.com/store/pizza-stones.html

[scott r]

I used mine one time before it cracked!

[JConk007]

Heres the set up in the Wolf oven. A Nice thick  full size Brick/Stone When not using the "baking stone setting" the element and rack are removed and a plug placed in the back  where it plugs in. Makes for a great crust and holds perfect heat for at least 3-4 pizzas. thats usually break time and enough to get started.
I know I need to do a self cleaning but I would rather cook pizza
JOhn

[Essen1]

Scotty,

Which one?

The flimsy ones you can buy at Target, the Fibra-D or the Cordierite?

I wonder which stones you prefer for home oven use and LBE use, since you're in the business. 

JC,

that looks like a "Power oven" to me. The heating element is pretty thick, compared to mine.

[JConk007]

Yes the oven cranks If i set at the 550 after 45 min the IR thermometer reads 650 or more on the stone. With the other big square willy sono on top it makes for a nice set up and i can do 2 pies pefectly at once with a. Few shuffles.
John

[F1photo1]

Thank you for your replies. It looks as though you saved me $20 or caused me to spend a bit more on a "proper" stone, depending on how you look at it.

I looked at "bakingstone.com" and I noticed they are located in Orland Park. I am originally form Orland and I live in Arlington Heights now, boy do I miss Southside pizzas, outside of Lou's I have not found a decent pizza locally. I still get out south at least once a month, and I was wondering if they have a retail store where I can purchase a stone in person?

Next question; I have a "cheap" gas oven where the broiler is in a separate compartment below. How many stones do I want? My thought was 2 stones; one on the bottom rack which the pizza sits on and one just above to help radiate heat to the top of the pizza (never thought of using the broiler to cook a pizza in). Will a stone sitting above the pizza do any good? Would I want to finish the pizza in the broiler? Would that require 3 stones or should I do away with the top stone and place it in the broiler only requiring 2 stones? If this has already been covered in another post please steer me there. Thank you.
Mike

[Renegade0224]

I sense a little pizza stone snobbery here.  I have two of the Oneida stones and, if you follow the directions on how to use it and take care of it, there shouldn't be any problems. Plus, if it should break for any reason, it's under warranty. Mine is fantastic and, asside from some of the comments I see here, others love it!  Sure you can by a Cadillac, but my Volkeswagen works fine, thank you very much.