Another thing -
We’re often told that “unglazed quarry tiles” are authentic. This is an interesting idea, and I’d be interested in buying them, but I cannot for the life of me locate a source, not even on line.
Who on earth has them, other than food writers?
Home Depot.
I could not find them at any Home Depot in my area.
I eventually got a steel. Love it. Way better than a stone for pizza. Can use for grilling, too.
A steel is more expensive, but I think in the long run the steel is the more durable way to do.
Home Depot does not have them.
There’s an article on Serious Eats which I think was what started this urban legend. Article was from 2011. I love SE but this is a bad article that should be taken down from their website. I’m too lazy to link to it.
It gave a link to Home Depot, which is now dead. The article said that if you were concerned about lead, you could buy a lead testing kit! As if I’m going to do that.
I want my diet, and my cooking, to simplify and improve my life, not add needless & silly complications.
Home Depot does carry them, but maybe it depends on area. My neighbor bought 2 12x24 unglazed quarry tiles from there to use in his outside woodburning oven. He just butted them up side by side to make a 24x24 square. They are a reddish brownish color.
OK, I looked & yes, I found them.
but you have to buy an entire case.
Perhaps there are vendors here or there that might sell an extra quarry tile or two, and if I happened to run across them I’d buy them (maybe, I’m concerned about the lead) but on the whole, the discussion is silly.
Just stick with a stone, or steel or cast iron.
What’s wrong with buying a case of tiles, making a ton of pizzas on that vast area of tile, then making a vast fortune (Shake Pizza, you listenin’?) off that ton?
Just askin’.
(Or, hey, would that be too authentic?)
I have used the unglazed Quarry tiles. They’re good for a short time. They crack and break. My Emile Henry pizza stone just cracked in half. I always took good care of it. I’m switching over to the pizza steel
That’s actually a good price. Wonder how they can afford to give free shipping. The steel plates are heavy, so getting it in two pieces isn’t a bad idea.
I actually just place an order. Seemed like a good price even though I wasn’t really in the market for these. I guess homemade pizzas will be on the menu in the near future. I better get a good recipe for pizza dough
Some info about cooking pizza on steel here:
and also lots more info of course in the rest of pizzamaking.com
I have a 0.5 inch steel for pizzas and it works pretty well but is very heavy, and actually causes the oven rack it’s sitting on to bow a little. In retrospect I probably should have just gotten a 0.25 inch steel. I just got mine from bakingsteel.com.
I’ve had pretty good results using this recipe for dough from Lehmann (measure by weight):
https://www.pizzamaking.com/lehmann-nystyle.php
The dough seems to taste better after being in the fridge for a few days.
I know for sure that my neighbor was able to buy the individual 2 tiles at the HD he went to. I remember him telling me they were about $4 each. I’ve seen the actual tiles inside his oven.
They might not have them available now, but they did. I think their inventory is also store specific, kind of like when I went to my HD store to pick up bathroom floor tiles I saw online, I actually found a style I liked better, and that were nowhere to be found online.
I personally have an 18" pizza stone in my oven that I bought from HomeGoods for $19.99. It does not go in or out of the oven – it lives in there, no matter what I’m cooking. I’ve had it for several years and have not had any issues with it.
That’s the guide I used. It wasn’t as simple as I imagined, but, overall, a fun adventure. Unless you are a bodybuilder, make sure you have someone to help you.
From speaking with store managers a few years ago, I think this is true. I.e., they used to carry unglazed in pretty much every store, but now it’s likely regional. (Because different regions require/prefer different materials, e.g., houses are built different in Houston than in Baltimore due to climate, etc.)
A stone is better for bread. Steel will burn the bottom. No matter how I try to insulate it, some part of the bottom will always get burned.
Anyway, that’s awesome you have a neighbor using quarry tiles in their oven! I would be finding all sorts of excuses to drop by.
Slight change of subject -
What brand of pizza peel do people here use?
I am getting rather serious about this. I usually heat up my 10.5" griddle on the stove, but i think it’s probably better to shove it onto the hot surface IN the oven.
Heat it on the stove and maintain it in the oven. At least to reduce the time to temp.
That’s exactly what I do now. it’s easy. Put it in the oven ASAP.
But I think using the peel might improve the process.
Does the pizza dough ever stick to the peel? How do you prevent that? I use a decent amount of corn meal in the last stage of forming my pizza, but there always seems to be a slight problem with sticking!
