Unglazed Quarry Tile

[AlphaMaleDawg]

Greetings,

Where can I acquired unglazed quarry tile for baking pizza that has dimensions great enough to fit one 12" pizza on 1 tile?

Thanks for your input.

[canadave]

Hi,

Most tile stores (look in your local yellow pages) should sell 12 x 12 unglazed quarry tile.  That's the size I bought at a local tile store in Edmonton for lining my oven.  If you ask for "unglazed quarry tile", they may not immediately understand what you're looking for...just tell them in that case that you want some tile that isn't glazed with chemicals, so that you can cook on it.

Dave

[Brian]

We are in the tile business and we use 3/8 honed limestone in our oven.  I put 2 12" tiles and had to notch them to fit.

Also I have access to 3cm soapstone that can usually be found in the scrap heap of a stone fabricator.

Good thermal qualities

good luck

[Ian]

I used unglazed quarry tiles for few years until they eventually broke. When I went to an Italian tile store to buy replacements, they asked me what I wanted them for. When I said "for making pizza", they suggested a piece of granite countertop. They have all sorts of scraps from custom countertop jobs and can cut a piece to fit your oven exactly (I had him cut my piece into two for easier handling). Be sure to use with the unglazed side up. Mine are 3/4 of an inch thick and are far superior to the quarry tiles. I've been using granite for about 10 years now.

[GNW]

Ian, From what I've read scattered around the net, Granite is a bad to cook with, especially if its glazed as the glaze supposedly contains and releases lead when heated up.

[PizzaNick]

Ive been wondering about granite myself, as i do work fabbing and installing granite countertops etc, ive got several scraps that would be able to be cut to fit an oven easy enough.  some do come presealed on the shiny side, but most, the shine is just from being polished with superfine diamond polishing pads. 

so as long as i know there are no chemical sealers, is the main issue still a chemical release from the stone?  or just danger of the stone breaking during cooking?

i do have a, now broken, pizza stone that i cook on, but would like to be able to use the granite i have if its not harmful or dangerous.  yes i know it is not ideal, but is it really bad? 

thanks.

[dms]

Ive been wondering about granite myself, as i do work fabbing and installing granite countertops etc, ive got several scraps that would be able to be cut to fit an oven easy enough.  some do come presealed on the shiny side, but most, the shine is just from being polished with superfine diamond polishing pads. 

so as long as i know there are no chemical sealers, is the main issue still a chemical release from the stone?  or just danger of the stone breaking during cooking?

i do have a, now broken, pizza stone that i cook on, but would like to be able to use the granite i have if its not harmful or dangerous.  yes i know it is not ideal, but is it really bad? 

thanks.

I can't imagine what would be bad about it.  Some granite is sealed with epoxy sealers; avoid that. 

Soapstone is better, if you can get that. 

[PizzaNick]

cool, thanks dms.  im pretty certain most of the pieces i have are not sealed, just polished on one side. 

yeah soapstone would be better, i was just hoping to be able to use something i already have.  i have prob 12-15 pieces of 3/4in thick stones big enough to be cut down to fit my oven in one piece.  a black granite may work better than other colors based on a very small tight dense structure so there should be no worry of internal fractures of the stone causing it to break or anything.

i think ill cut a piece down here in the next few days to give it a shot.  i need to do something anyway, since i had to use the broken cheapo stone to make my 3 monical's style pies tonight haha.

so anyone else here have any input or used a granite stone to cook pizza on?

[Chet]

We are in the tile business and we use 3/8 honed limestone in our oven.  I put 2 12" tiles and had to notch them to fit.

Also I have access to 3cm soapstone that can usually be found in the scrap heap of a stone fabricator.

Good thermal qualities

good luck

   HI Brian

    what is a 17"x17" pc of soapstone worth

   Chet

[StrayBullet]

Hey Chet, why do you ask?

I'm in the market right now if the price is right

[buceriasdon]

Ian, From what I've read scattered around the net, Granite is a bad to cook with, especially if its glazed as the glaze supposedly contains and releases lead when heated up.

http://granitepizzastones.com/

The net is full of people spreading misinformation.

[scott123]

   HI Brian

    what is a 17"x17" pc of soapstone worth

   Chet

Chet, that post is from 6 years ago.  I don't think Brian is still around.

As far as the worth of a 17" x 17" x 1.25" slab of soapstone goes... it really depends on where you are, as the price varies tremendously in different parts of the nation.  It can range from $10/square foot (remnants from an importer) to as much as $80/sq. foot (cut pieces from a distributor who's buying perfect slabs from the importer).

I think the closest distributor to you would be Bucks County soapstone.  Norma427 recently priced out a slab for $55/sq. ft.  Since 17 x 17 is 2 square feet, that's $110 if you purchased it from them (without shipping).

[scott123]

http://granitepizzastones.com/

The net is full of people spreading misinformation.

Actually, as far as I know, granite is never glazed.  It gets it finish by being polished.  The danger with granite is not it's composition, but it's extremely low resistance to thermal shock.  Granite contains a lot of silica making it a close relative to glass.  Whenever you expose glass to extremes in temperature, it fails- and, if the temperatures are extreme enough, it can fail quite violently.

But, yes, the net is full of misinformation. I believe Jamie Oliver was at one time recommending granite as a pizza stone.

[Iyor]

Why don't you call a bunch of fabricators and see what they have.I found someone who will cut an 18x20, and a 20 inch circle for 200 for both. The circle is the tough cut so its a bit more.