Steel plate for a stone?

[perupizza]

Hello to all,

Iīve been lurking as a guest for quite a while getting ready to open a retail pizza outlet here in Iquitos, Peru.  There are only two places to buy pizza here and both are terrible. Dough tastes like cardboard, lousy sauce, etc. Which is surprising because both places use a wood fired oven.

Iīam having three ovens welded up patterned after the 2stone pizza oven. My problem, and the reason for this post, is stones.

There is nothing I can use here for a stone. No roads lead to Iquitos and somethings are impossible to buy here. Here, everything is glazed ceramic tile. No granite. No marble.

I checked at the local graveyards for granite used in headstones. They donīt use granite or marble for headstones. They are made from poured cement.

No pavers. No nada ...except for one item.

I can buy, very cheap, steel plate from 1/4 to 1 inch thick. I know itīs heavy. I can deal with that.

Question...can I use steel plate for a stone?  If so, how thick should it be?

Iīm thinking maybe 1 inch on the bottom and 1/2 on the top.

Thanks in advance to all replies.

Tom

[abatardi]

where does the glazed tile come from?  If locally, can you get the manufacturer to give you some unglazed tiles?

[pizza concerto]

I checked at the local graveyards for granite used in headstones. They donīt use granite or marble for headstones. They are made from poured cement.

Wow...authentic "Tombstone" pizza...!

Sorry Tom, had to joke, don't have a clue whether steel will work, good luck with it though!!

[perupizza]

Hello,

Abartardi,  the glazed tile is shipped in from Lima on the Amazon river. Havenīt a clue the source in Lima.

Since the steel plate is so cheap Iīm going to have a couple of pieces cut and try them out. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

thanks

tom

[Essen1]

Tom,

I use a 1/4" thick steel plate in my LBE as a flame buffer.

However, the steel plate, after about 45 mins of operation, becomes red hot. With that in mind, I don't think a steel plate is a very good solution to bake pizza. I'm afraid the pies will just incinerate into oblivion in a second if you throw them on.

Here's the plate I'm talking about.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,4753.msg57620.html#msg57620