baking stone

Darcy Legare wrote in news:1103774238.c8feb92ddc364ce3e169014edefbedd5@teranews:

Place the stone in a cold oven (I keep my stone in the oven all the time), and preheat at least 30 minutes. I don't generally adjust the baking time. The object is not to speed up cooking, but to improve the crust of most things baked on the stone. Your oven temperature remains the same as if the stone wasn't there.

Depends what you're baking.

At about 500 degrees, it really cuts down the bake time of a pizza. There's a very rapid transfer of thermal energy between the stone and the crust.

At 350, baking bread, i imagine it doesn't affect bake time much.

But I thought the Baking Stone (in addition to what you stated) was to even out the temperature inside the oven to keep it at a constant temperature. Is this an additional function of the stone? My oven is the worst one ever made (really!) and I was thinking of getting some Baking Stones for this purpose.

silentking wrote in news:41ca6810$0$6399$ snipped-for-privacy@news.usenetmonster.com:

Yes, the retained heat of the stone does help to maintain a more even temp. You'll notice an improvement.

Well, yes and no. They act somewhat as a heat spreader, and change the convection currents in your oven. They block direct radiated heat, though they radiate some on their own.

Maybe you should start with quarry tiles if this an experiment in evening out the temperature of your oven - five 8" tiles - one of them cut squarely in half - will fit the shelf in most consumer ovens nicely.

Speaking of which, I need to toss mine and replace them with a fibrament stone. Now that I'm all fiscally solvent & making what I'm worth again and all that.

Goodness, that was a quick responce! lol Thanks for the suggestion, I will try that first.

Oh yeah, make sure they are unglazed.

My instructions said to never get it wet - I scrape any baked on pieces with a dough scraper. Over time, it will darken a bit. Beats those pizza pans with the holes. I never remove it from my oven when baking or roasting anything.

No. While it is a mass, and MIGHT even things out a (very) little, the idea is to give foods a better bottom cooking than without the stone.

Pies, some breads and pizza come to mind. Their bottoms cook much better if you let the stone get up to oven temp. AT LEAST a half-hour AFTER the oven has gotten itself up to temperature.