Pizza stone first use...WASH?

[GB]

I have never used a metal one either, but I find the wood kind extremely easy to use so I am not looking for a way to make it easier. Either wood or metal will work just as well.

I make my pizza directly on the peel. My stone stays in my oven and pre-heats while I am getting the pizza ready. I just the peel with cornmeal than form the pizza directly on top. When I am done assembling, I give it a few shakes to make sure it moves freely. If it does not then I carefully lift the pizza and throw some more cornmeal under so that it does slide easily. I put the peel on the far lip of the pizza stone and jerk my hand back quickly. The peel comes out and the pizza stays on the stone. I do not put anything on the stone itself, but some of the cornmeal ends up there. You want as much contact with the stone as possible as that is how you will get a crisp crust. If you don't like a crisp crust then don't use a stone.

 

[Wyogal]

btw, the cornmeal acts as tiny ball bearings, that's why it works so well.

 

[Julio]

I just finished using my stone for the first time. I left the pizza in the oven for 15 minutes and it came out crispy. The dough that i like making is wolfman puck that's in the manual of my food processor. The pizza stone manual says not to use any grease because it will cause bad odors. I also used parchment paper because i don't have a pizza peel I had a little problem getting the pizza in the oven.

 

[Selkie]

LOL!!! I think you meant Wolfgang Puck!!! A famous chef... not wolfman...

But I am glad it turned out for you... and the use of parchment in place of a peel is great!

 

[Andy M.]

What temperature did you use? Pizza is usually cooked at temperatures higher than the safe temps for parchment paper.

You can use a rimless cookie sheet or the bottom of a rimmed cookie sheet in place of a peel.

 

[Alix]

Andy, I read it as he did the pizza on the parchment and had a tough time sliding it onto the prepped stone. Maybe I read that wrong?

Julio, can you clarify? Did you bake on the bare stone or with parchment under?

 

[Julio]

Sorry I meant wolfgang puck

I put together the pizza on top of a parchment paper then I turned upside down a 12" metal pizza plate that I use to use and put the pizza on top of that. I put the pizza in the oven with the parchment paper on top of the stone.

I cooked the pizza @ 400 degrees because the parchment paper high temp was 420 degrees.

 

[GB]

Putting the paper between the pizza and the stone defeated the purpose of the stone. The reason the stone is good is that is absorbs moisture from the crust. This is what crisps it up. Does not sound like that was an issue with your pizza though so that is good.

 

[justplainbill]

I just finished using my stone for the first time. I left the pizza in the oven for 15 minutes and it came out crispy. The dough that i like making is wolfman puck that's in the manual of my food processor. The pizza stone manual says not to use any grease because it will cause bad odors. I also used parchment paper because i don't have a pizza peel I had a little problem getting the pizza in the oven.

Glad to hear your pie came out ok. Until you perfect your technique to insure that none of the toppings escape onto the stone you might want to continue to use parchment. Leakage of many of the topping ingredients (e.g. olive oil) onto the stone can create unpleasant odors.
With a stone in close proximity to the ovens heat source, I've noticed that the stone temperature in a thoroughly preheated oven may well be some 25+ degrees higher than the overall oven temperture.

 

[Julio]

GB the pizza came out crispy I left it in the oven for 15 minutes.

Glad to hear your pie came out ok. Until you perfect your technique to insure that none of the toppings escape onto the stone you might want to continue to use parchment. Leakage of many of the topping ingredients (e.g. olive oil) onto the stone can create unpleasant odors.
With a stone in close proximity to the ovens heat source, I've noticed that the stone temperature in a thoroughly preheated oven may well be some 25+ degrees higher than the overall oven temperture.

I was thinking about that when I first pre-heated the stone for the first time 500 degrees.

I have to say that amazon did a really good job at shipping the stone. They shipped it over night and the package weighed 31 pounds. The stone was inside a small box then the small box was inside a medium box full shipping material and the medium box was inside a larger box that was full of shipping paper.

 

[justplainbill]

Sounds like you got a nice stone. What are it's dimensions?

 

[Julio]

It's the rectangular 14x16 old stone oven baking stone.

 

[bakechef]

I use parchment when cooking pizza on a stone, but do it a bit differently.

I build the pizza on the parchment and slide the pizza on the peel using the parchment. I put it on the preheated stone (as high as my oven will go 550 degrees) parchment and all, after 1 minute I slide out the parchment so that the stone can do its work. After a minute or so the parchment slides out very easily, I just use the peel to hold the pizza in place while I slide out the parchment.

This would be a great way for beginners to make pizza on a stone with a peel. You don't want to leave the parchment in there too long at that temperature because it will burn.

 

[GB]

bakechef, if I understand your process correctly, you put parchment on the peel, build the pizza on that, slide the pizza still on the parchment onto the stone, then after a minute remove the parchment. I guess my question is what is the purpose of even using the parchment? You could do the exact same thing with the same end results just skipping the parchment step.

 

[bakechef]

bakechef, if I understand your process correctly, you put parchment on the peel, build the pizza on that, slide the pizza still on the parchment onto the stone, then after a minute remove the parchment. I guess my question is what is the purpose of even using the parchment? You could do the exact same thing with the same end results just skipping the parchment step.

Well the parchment makes it a bit less messy for me. I guarantees that the dough won't stick to the peel, making it easier to offload the pizza on to the stone. You can also make a second pizza on parchment and let it set on the counter, which frees up your peel for the pizza that is baking.

This is a good method for beginners or someone who has trouble with the dough sticking to the peel. If I am out of parchment, I will just dust the peel liberally with flour, and give it a jiggle while assembling.

Also if I have more than one loaf of bread to bake on my stone, it is easier to have each loaf on its own piece of parchment ready to slide on the peel.

I have had a lot less pizza toppings end up on the floor of my oven with this method!

 

[x7anooonah]

Wow I am glad you asked this. When I bought my stone someone had taken the manual so I never even knew. I wash mine all the time and use it but never before its dried I guess. Not on purpose just happened to work out that way.

 

[Julio]

I won't be needing the parchment paper for pizza anymore. Fedex dropped off my pizza peel this morning. I'm really glad cause I burned myself taking out the pizza from the oven the other day.