Pizza Stone Broke

[Puzzolento]

I thought I had graduated to a pizza steel, but it turned out a stone worked better for Sicilian, so I used it the other day.

When I went to remove it from the oven, it came out in two pieces. Broke for no apparent reason.

I got it at Bed Bath & Beyond. My local store is now shuttered. I have no idea what brand the stone was.

So what's a good stone for a home oven? The one I had appeared to have been made of clay. I guess it was around 5/8" thick. I want something just as big as the old one. It was !4" by 15".

The main purpose of this stone will be to crisp up the bottoms of Sicilian pies after they come out of pans.

[Timpanogos Slim]

If you can push the pieces together and they meet in a flat plane, they will keep working as before.

Failing that, the Unicook brand seems to work fine?

[kori]

I have  a couple of these, 15" stone, 3/4" thick.

On right now for $29, that's a great deal.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IACNGB0/?tag=pmak-20

[Pizzailolz]

Stick with the steel. Just get the temp right for your Sicilian. Don't get over 500 degrees on your IR. And if your pans aren't flat and spin, set the pan on a screen or cooling rack on the steel to keep the bottom even.

[Timpanogos Slim]

The big factory seconds sale is still going:

https://cookingsteels.com/factory-seconds/

[Puzzolento]

Thanks for the help. I ordered a Unicook.

[Gene in Acadiana]

The pizza stone I'm using now was made by Cast Elegance. It's definitely the best one I've used and really durable. It also radiates heat really well. I'm much happier with it for NY style than when I was using steel. My only complaint is that it's round and not square or rectangle but I wanted a 16" stone and that's the only one they make that large.

It's priced on the slightly higher side but the quality is there and  three years later it's still going strong.

[doubledragon]

I second the Cast Elegance stone. It's the only pizza stone made of Thermarite. As always, season it first with a nice gradual bake from 0 up to 500F for about an hour. Never shock your stone with extreme temps, either hot or cold. Let it gradually heat or gradually cool. Common sense fellas!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GW4CDNO/?tag=pmak-20

[jkb]

Cordierite is rugged.  Why would you remove the stone from the oven?

[Timpanogos Slim]

Cordierite is rugged.  Why would you remove the stone from the oven?

They vary.

The 15x15x0.75" stone my mom bought in like 1987, that i made my first hundred or so pizzas on, is still in excellent shape. It absorbed like half a pound of butter in an unfortunate mishap in about 1994 too.

They've never left it in the oven to my knowledge.

I don't leave my steel in my oven because it alters the heat distribution in a way that messes up my bread bakes.

[Puzzolento]

Cordierite is rugged.  Why would you remove the stone from the oven?

Probably not the right forum to mention this in, but ovens can be used for things other than pizza.

[wotavidone]

Probably not the right forum to mention this in, but ovens can be used for things other than pizza.

Go wash your mouth out with soap, as my Granma used to say. 

But yes, you don't always want the stone in there, which means it has to be robust enough to remove.
Bunnings, a large hardware chain here in Australia, sells paving stones that are 20mm (3/4") slices of natural sandstone.
I've been using them for pizza stones for more than a decade now. They do crack eventually, but at $14 aussie dollars for a 400mm x 400mm (nearly 16 inches square) slice, its not a particularly painful experience.

[Pizzailolz]

Probably not the right forum to mention this in, but ovens can be used for things other than pizza.

You mean like calzones? 

I leave my steel on the bottom rack all the time. It helps regain heat when I open the door and such.

[deb415611]

Probably not the right forum to mention this in, but ovens can be used for things other than pizza.

I leave my stone in my oven.   I just set the pan my turkey was in on top of it yesterday, worked just fine

[The Pontificator]

I have a Villaware stone that's very thick and measures 14" x 16". Still going strong after nearly 30 years.

I just leave it on the bottom rack. I only remove it to scrape off burned stuff or semolina dust. Helps keep oven temp stable.