I am replacing my el-cheapo stone. It broke when the wife turned on the electric burner it was sitting on. I do most of my baking (pizza and bread) on the gas grill outside (Weber Silver B). The el-cheapo stone had no problems with that directly on the grill. I am considering a Fibrament stone, however they say don't put it directly on the grill. They offer a BBQ version that comes with a metal pan for an additional $15. The BBQ version only comes in round.
If my old stone handled the gas grill OK, why wouldn't a Fibrament?
If the Fibrament really does need something between it and the grill surface, why wouldn't a cheap cookie sheet or some unglazed quarry tiles suffice for this?
Slightly OT: If I decide to just use the quarry tiles (with no Fibrament stone), do I bake directly on them or put a baking sheet on the tiles?
You can bake directly on the tile or you can made-up the product on a sheet of parchment an slide the whole works on the stone. I wouldn't use a metal baking sheet.
I bake directly on my unglazed quarry tiles. (I have heard is that glazed tiles should never be used for cooking or baking). As with other baking stones, the tiles should be put in the oven when it is cold and heated along with the oven. I would guess that you could put the tiles on the grill when it is cold and then heated gradually. Bobbi Jo
Your old stone was probably ceramic (and high in bentonite) - fibrament is more of a cement. It would be damaged by direct flame.
Yeah, it just needs a heat spreader that will block the flames. Quarry tiles may leave too much of a gap and increase the preheat time excessively. Or it might work. Send 'em an email, it's a small company and they'll get right back to you.
Unglazed quarry tiles are fine to bake right on top of. In a normal sized oven, five 8" tiles with one of them cut squarely in half will fill the rack nicely. Cut it against the grain of the ridges on the underside of the tile.
In my experience, for pizza, my quarry tiles didn't pack quite the same thermal punch that a rocket hot fibrament slab does. Neither do other ceramics I've tried.
I have heard from a friend that quarry tiles may contain lead, and you should ensure that they are lead free before cooking on them. Is this true? I know there are test kits available to test for lead in painted surfaces etc. Should I be concerned about lead, or is the concept an urban legend. (not knowing what is used to make the tiles).
I don't have a clue about what's actually in quarry tiles, and would be a bit hesitant to accept the information that might be provided me by some nice person working at Home Depot.
The alternative that I would suggest is a slab of natural stone. I had a piece of soapstone (about 2" thick) in the bottom of my oven for nearly 20 years.
It held an amazing amount of heat, and really improved my baking.
I have heard this several times, and have searched extensively on the 'net. I have found *NO* evidence to suggest that unglazed quarry tiles contain lead. I have repeatedly followed that statement on-line with a request that anyone who has any evidence to the contrary contact me. So far, no one has come forward.
A quick note on lead and glazes. Some glazes contain lead. If a lead containing glaze is completely fired, the lead is inert and will not contaminate foods or drink, at least as long as the glaze is unchipped and unbroken. However, if the lead containing glaze is not fired correctly, the lead in the glaze can be leached out. Tiles made in third world nations - that is, the cheap tiles in import houses, sold from mysterious vans on the side of the road, or purchased just across the border - are the ones most often poorly fired.
The general equation is no glaze = no lead. In the past few decades, the use of lead in glazes has declined, and even the third world potters have gotten better. Still, it's cheaper to use an unglazed tile, so why take a chance?
Lead usually migrates to food when acid is present, especially liquid acids. So, putting a tomato salsa into a leaden container is not a good idea. Nor a citrus fruit based punch. Most bread doughs are not terribly acidic, sourdough being the exception. The other considerations are temeprature, with high temperature speeding all chemical reactions, and exposure time.
I don't think a lead glaze poses a serious health risk. Bread dough is semi-solid, the exposure time is relative short. Once the dough forms a crust, which is very quick, the migratio of lead is stopped. If you have glazed tiles, using bakers parchment will probably protect the bread quite effectively.
A comment on using tiles. Using sheet pans greatly reduces the effectiveness of tiles. Jef Hammelman has some pictures of breads baked directly on tiles (or a hearth) versus on sheet pans on tiles (or a hearth) in his book. You lose a lot by using sheet pans. Bakers parchment is a much better option if you are reluctant to put the bread directly on the tiles.
I have heard this several times, and have searched extensively on the 'net. I have found *NO* evidence to suggest that unglazed quarry tiles contain lead. I have repeatedly followed that statement on-line with a request that anyone who has any evidence to the contrary contact me. So far, no one has come forward.
A quick note on lead and glazes. Some glazes contain lead. If a lead containing glaze is completely fired, the lead is inert and will not contaminate foods or drink, at least as long as the glaze is unchipped and unbroken. However, if the lead containing glaze is not fired correctly, the lead in the glaze can be leached out. Tiles made in third world nations - that is, the cheap tiles in import houses, sold from mysterious vans on the side of the road, or purchased just across the border - are the ones most often poorly fired.
In areas where BTUs come at a relatively high price - for example Mexico and most third world countries - it's very common practice to mix mercury in with the clay, because this significantly lowers the firing temperature and saves you a lot of money in your fuel budget.
Nobody does this in developed countries where fuel isn't so hard to come by. It's actually illegal in most developed countries.
Nearly all of the mercury sweats out during the firing process and ends up in a puddle on the floor of the kiln, and is mixed into the next batch.
Some small amount of it does remain in the fired ceramic, and it can certainly leech out.
How much? Hard to say. You probably wouldn't want to store food in unglazed containers that were fired with mercury, but who stores food in unglazed ceramics? Eating off of glazed dishes that were fired with mercury, every day for your whole life, probably doesn't constitute 'significant' exposure to mercury.
Baking on a tile? Even less.
As for myself, I make a point of not eating heavy metals where i can avoid it. Just doesn't seem like a good idea.
Depends what tile you're referring to how worried you should plausibly be. If we're talking about those 'saltillo' tiles that are mottled pink & yellow, about 3/4" thick, often misshapen, and quite porous, those are almost certainly made in mexico as cheaply as possible, and it's very likely that there is some tiny amount of mercury in them - but still probably not enough to worry about for the occasional pizza.
If we're talking about made-in-the-USA good quality quarry tiles from the hardware store or tile supplier, no, there isn't any mercury in 'em. The EPA would have a field day.
My biggest problem with quarry tiles isn't the toxic substances the
may/may not contain, it's their potential lack of resistance to therma shock. Commercial baking stones/firebrick (even the cheapo ones) ar specifically engineered to handle the type of extreme temperatur changes involved in hearth baking. Quarry tiles are not. There's good chance the tiles won't break on you, but, at the same time there's a small chance they will. If you're not paying attention, shard may end up in your bread/pizza. Pit shard against teeth, shar wins. Trust me, from personal experience, I know. This scenario i probably a thousand to one, but why take the risk when firebrick i only a few dollars more?
A lot of people gush about the unglazed quarry tiles that they've bee baking with for years without a problem. All power to them. Me and m chipped tooth are sticking with tools specifically engineered for th job
I started out making pizza on unglazed earthenware tiles, and then my parents upgraded to an immense bentonite ceramic slab - which was a lot better.
I moved out, and while my career was doing just fine for a number of years, I neglected to invest in anything. I was kinda pizza'd-out from being designated pizza guy at home - even when I'd go home to visit.
Then the bubble burst, my high-tech job evaporated and i started competing with half a million geeks (actually closer to 540,000) for the same couple hundred jobs, and got a hankering for pizza.
The quarry tiles worked very well for the $6 investment made at Lowes. The only breakage problems i had was when i dropped them and chipped the edges.
The job market got better, I started making more money, and bought the fibrament slab. It was worth the $60, considering it'll last a lifetime and will be replaced under warranty unless i break it doing something incredibly stupid.
It's not only that it stores more heat, it releases it a little more gradually.
You can get the quarry tiles really hot, searing hot, but when you slide the pizza onto them they transfer most of what they've got stored very quickly.
You end up with the bottom of the crust being crisper than the rest, and actually a slightly longer bake time than the fibrament. On the fibrament slab, it's just got more heat stored after the initial flash, which allows you to produce a more evenly crisp surface on the crust with a more evenly baked interior.
In article , Kenneth wrote: [...] = The alternative that I would suggest is a slab of natural = stone. I had a piece of soapstone (about 2" thick) in the = bottom of my oven for nearly 20 years. = = It held an amazing amount of heat, and really improved my = baking. = = The slab cost me just a few dollars...
I've been wanting something like that for years. Where did you get your soapstone slab?
Is there an on-line or mail-order source? Or a local source who may be willing to ship to me?
Nearly any developing city has at least one place within 20 miles or so that sells stone for construction uses. Check the yellowpages, call around.
You'll want to make sure it's really dry the same way that fibrament stones are prepped. 100 degrees for an hour, increase oven temperature 100 degrees every hour until you leave the oven at it's top temperature for two hours. Then turn off the oven and let it cool completely.
If you go straight to 500 degrees when you get it home, and there's moisture trapped in the stone, it may break. After you've dried it out, it shouldn't be any worry in normal use.
I'd suggest that you just look in a local Yellow Pages for headings such as "Brick and Stone."
Also check for suppliers of granite counters in your area:
The "waste" created when they cut out the area for a drop in sink is just about perfect for a baker. If you charm them, you are likely to get such a piece for very little money.
snipped-for-privacy@swcp.com (Charlie Sorsby) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@quail.sorsby.org:
I bought a simple unglazed large floor tile at Home Despot. My oven never had even temperatures. Had to constantly rotate everything. Now I love my oven. Tile was about $6.
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