# Economical Baking or Pizza Stone Alternative



## lotuseclat79

Even though I previously bought a pizza stone for $25 or thereabouts (15 inches round), since I am really into baking pizzas from dough, I thought some of you would be interested in a really cheap and great alternative.

UNGLAZED QUARRY TILES (6x6x 1/2 inch thick) are available from Home Depot for $ 0.30 a piece - thats right 30 cents, and $8.40 for a 41 lb. box of 28 of them. Makes a great gift for xmas for any relative that is into baking bread or pizza.

They are Red Mayflower (color of rust) and are stain resistent and have a very low water absorbtion. The key thing is NEVER to use any glazed tiles as they contain LEAD. Unglazed quarry tiles = No Lead = No health problem.

For a gas oven, place them on the floor of the oven and for an electric oven place them on the lowest rack setting in the oven. Preheat to 500 degrees for an hour before baking the pizza or bread. I usually get up to 500 degrees in about 25 min.

If you need to cut the tiles to fit, Home Depot sells a 14 inch manual tile cutter for just less than $18. You score the tile an then press down to snap the tile along the score. Home Depot no longer cuts tile, and Lowe's doesn't carry unglazed quarry tile, but only cuts what they sell.

Since my gas oven is 16x18 inches the best solution is (3) - 8x12 tiles, and cut one of them into 2- 8x6 tiles to fit the 16x18 space on the floor of the oven.

Dal-Tile has a factory in Kentucky that produces the 8x12 tiles but I haven't yet contacted them with regard to minimum order, cost, etc. Will followup when I get the information.

-- Tom


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## lotuseclat79

Well, I tried cooking a pizza on my new oven floor lined with the unglazed quarry tiles.

It looks like I'll have to adjust the cooking time downward since the bottom turned out out to be overdone as in just over slightly burnt. LOL.

Previously, when I cooked a pizza in my grocery store bought ($6-7) pizza pan on my pizza stone covered with aluminum foil and placed on the bottom of the oven, it took about 18 minutes to cook after I had heated the oven up to 500 degrees and turned back the temp to 475 when I threw the pizza in the oven.

Looks like the unglazed quarry tiles do a superior job of transferring heat to make the bottom crust up and I would guess that about 15 minutes will be the next amount of time I use when I cook a pizza.

Just a heads up to watch the bottom crust for doneness when you cook on the unglazed quarry tiles. Maybe something you have to adjust accordingly regarding your baking recipes wrt cooking time.

-- Tom


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## Bush Lady

I assume when you are talking about Pizza Stone, you are referring to a stone oven. 

My mother had told me what my grandmother used in Poland to bake bread. They had a big oven outside from stone. They made a big fire in the oven with wood. When the wood was burnt out. My grandmother cleaned out the stove and put the bread in for baking. 

The oven held the heat so well, my grandmother was able to still bake a cake in the oven after the bread was done.


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## Gabriel

I would LOVE a stone oven I used to live in a little town that had a shop that did all their baking in an old stone oven...............It was the best


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## lotuseclat79

Bush Lady said:


> I assume when you are talking about Pizza Stone, you are referring to a stone oven.
> 
> My mother had told me what my grandmother used in Poland to bake bread. They had a big oven outside from stone. They made a big fire in the oven with wood. When the wood was burnt out. My grandmother cleaned out the stove and put the bread in for baking.
> 
> The oven held the heat so well, my grandmother was able to still bake a cake in the oven after the bread was done.


Hi Bush Lady,

The Pizza Stone I have is 15 inches in diameter, so your assumption is probably not what I was referring to, but perhaps as close to equivalent one can get when the unglazed quarry tile is put into either a gas or electric oven as mentioned.

-- Tom


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