Slice Pizza Blog - Pizza Protips

Pizza Protips: Gluten and Water

2011-06-28T15:15:00Z

Clockwise from the top left are bread flour, all-purpose flour, unbleached cake flour, and bleached cake flour.[Photographs: Donna Currie]

If you ask a baker what protein does in dough, they'll tell you protein forms gluten, the stretchy web that's necessary for making bread (but a less desirable quality in things like cakes). Protein affects the amount of water that flour can absorb. It's thirsty. Dough made with high gluten flour will seem less wet than dough made from flour with a lower gluten content. This can be true even if the same brand of flour is used to make the same dough. While measuring errors are one common problem, even if the measuring is precise, doughs made from the same recipe can feel different. The reason being, protein levels can vary within the same brand of flour. Although usually the amount of protein is stated on the bag, the actual amount will fall within a range depending on the manufacturer's tolerances. Even a small variation in the amount of protein can produce very different outcomes. But how much difference could it make?

This test was easy. I started with four different types of flour in four bowls—100 grams each of bread flour, all-purpose flour, unbleached cake flour, and cake flour—and I added 90 grams of water to each bowl. The bleached cake flour (bottom left in photo above) looks thicker, but looks are deceiving. It wasn't thicker, it's just that the others were smoother. Bread flour, with the highest protein content, was the thickest dough. It was stirrable, but it started developing gluten right away. After a short rest, I could lift the whole clump of dough with the spoon.

All purpose flour was a little wetter, or less thick, if you prefer to think of it that way. It was much easier to stir, but started to develop gluten fairly quickly. After a short rest, I could pick up most of the dough ball on the spoon, but since it was looser and smoother, it flowed off the spoon.

Unbleached cake flour is new on the market; until recently, all cake flour was bleached. The unbleached cake flour is formulated to have the same protein content as the bleached cake flour, but without undergoing the chemical bleaching process. It was even looser than the all-purpose flour. There was less gluten development, so it fell off the spoon in ragged clumps. It's not as bright white, and there was some gluten development. Not nearly as much as the bread or all-purpose flours, but more than the bleached cake flour.

The bright white bleached cake flour, besides being the loosest, also resisted forming gluten, even after quite a long rest. I could pick up a spoon full of it, but it didn't hold together at all.

Using bleached cake flour in lieu of bread flour would be an extreme substitute, but even the difference between bread flour and all-purpose flour was significant. There's no one flour that's right for every purpose, and of course I didn't test every option. The point is that different flours will behave differently, so even if you weigh every ingredient, your results may not be consistent unless you're using the same flour—and if the flour itself is consistent from the manufacturers.

About the author: Donna Currie has been cooking for fun and writing for pay since the days when typewritten articles traveled by snail mail. When she combined those talents in a food column for a newspaper in her area, she realized that writing about food is almost as much fun as eating. You can find her on her blog, Cookistry or follow her on Twitter at @dbcurrie or @cookistry.

Pizza Protips: A Different Sort of Peel

2011-06-21T18:30:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

When people talk about using baking stones for pizza or bread, the one issue that consistently rears its ugly head is the need to get the pizza—or bread—onto the stone. Pizza peels are made for the task, but it takes a certain amount of practice and confidence to get the unbaked item off the peel and into the oven.

A dusting of cornmeal and semolina on the peel will act like tiny ball bearings and help "lubricate" the movement of the dough. However, they do introduce an additional flavor and texture into the equation. Along with that comes the residual effect that whatever isn't directly under your baked goods might burn. That is more of a concern if you're baking several items in sequence; the burned bits from the first round of baking can end up under items in subsequent rounds.

Even the most experienced bakers will produce dough that is a little too slack or slightly over-risen bread, making pizza peel maneuvers more challenging. Pizzas ends up misshapen, or the bread collapses from too vigorous a snap of the peel. Poor aim lands items partway off the stone, or a misplaced first loaf leaves little space for a second loaf. Using a peel takes confidence, but unless you bake a lot, it's hard to gain that confidence. And all the confidence in the world can't make up for clumsiness, so a touch of gracefulness helps as well.

There are those that advocate using parchment paper under pizza, but my recent tests show that it has some affect on the crispness of the crust. Baking sheets are fine for many breads, and for some styles of pizza. For others, it's not recommended. Pizza screens offer yet another option. But sometimes you just want naked dough directly on a hot stone.

When I first heard of the Super Peel, it seemed a little silly to me. Do we need another gadget? Well, if you don't already have a peel, it's not another gadget.
The Super Peel is a loop of fabric that acts as a sort of conveyor belt to move the dough on and off the peel. It takes a little practice to get the movement right for a smooth transition, but it's not a steep learning curve. The first instinct is to move the conveyor-belt-cloth to pull the dough up, but that will stretch the dough. If you move the peel under the dough while keeping your other hand (holding the conveyor-belt-cloth) in the same place, the dough slides up onto the peel.

Moving the dough off of the peel and onto the stone is the opposite motion. Once you get the hang of it, it makes perfect sense and it gets easier.

Admittedly, I like the showmanship of getting a pizza off of a peel in one deft movement and having it emerge from the oven perfectly round. Then again, my overconfidence with a peel recently sent a perfectly good pizza into the ashes of a wood-fired oven, so my peel skills aren't as honed as I sometimes think think they are.

The benefit of the Super Peel isn't just that you can get the dough on and off the peel, but that you can do it slowly and gently. That's a huge asset if you're dealing with a puffy loaf of bread that might be just a bit fragile. And if your pizza is about the same size as your stone, you can place that pizza much more precisely with a lot less practice.

Is the Super Peel for everyone? No, obviously not. If you're moving pizzas around like an expert, there's no need to invest in this sort of peel. Like parchment paper and pizza screens, it's a bit of a crutch. But unlike the parchment and the pizza screen, this particular crutch doesn't affect the crispness of the crust.

The standard Super Peel sells for $48.

The Best Surface For Baking Pizza: Finale

2011-06-14T13:30:00Z

VIEW SLIDESHOW: The Best Surface For Baking Pizza: Finale

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

Whenever the subject of pizza baking stones comes up, people chime in with their favorites. But how many people have owned more than two—or maybe three—pizza stones? And how many have tested them with exactly the same recipe in the same oven baked for precisely the same amount of time? Over the course of 12 weeks, I tested a variety of baking surfaces with the same pizza recipe, photographed the results, judged the textures, and ate the pizzas.

Since I tested one recipe on all the stones, it should be said that with recipe and technique tweaks, a baker should be able to get decent performance out of just about any of the surfaces tested. When buying one, though, there are other factors to consider, including ease of cleaning, durability, and size. There is no single stone that will be perfect for everyone. But, everyone should be able to find a stone that is uniquely suited to them.

The Surfaces

Cheap Pizza Stone, $20
Aluminum Pan, $10-15
Quarry Tiles, $4 for 6 tiles
Double-Stacked Quarry Tiles, $8 for 12 tiles
King Arthur Flour Baking Stone, $55
Emile Henry Stone, $50
Pizza Screen, $10
Screen and Stone, $10, plus cost of stone
Parchment and Stone, Pennies, plus cost of stone
Fibrament Baking Stone, $43-90 for standard sizes; custom sizes available
Lodge Cast-Iron Pizza Pan, $35
All-Clad Soapstone, $125

The Upper Crust: Recommended Baking Surfaces

I've got to say that it was enlightening. Some of the results were different than what I expected. And of course, I expect your results would be different in different ovens making different pizzas. But this should give you a good idea of which stones would give you the results you're hoping for.

King Arthur Flour Baking Stone

Pros : A crisper crust than with the quarry tiles, and more browning. The rectangular stone gives a little more landing space than a round stone, but it's not so large that it would impede airflow in most home ovens.

Cons: Like any porous surface, it's not going to stay pretty for long when you start spilling things on it.

Comments: One of the better options of the series. No razzle-dazzle, but this is a workhorse of a stone. Best for overall usability.

Emile Henry Stone

Pros: Aesthetically pleasing and practical, this stone can be easily removed from the oven to double as the cutting and serving surface. It also produces the crispest crust of any of the stones, and keeping the pizza on the stone for serving helps keep the crust hot and crisp. The glazed surface can be cleaned with soap and water.

Cons: While this was the crispest crust, some may find it a little too crisp.

Comments: This stone has a lot going for it, including coming in both round and rectangular shapes; a preference to consider before purchasing. Comes out on top for crispness.

Lodge Cast-Iron Pizza Pan

Pros: This can be use on the grill or stovetop, in the oven, and under the broiler. Side handles make it easy to move the stone. The crust gets well-browned with spots of char, and crisp. It comes seasoned, but you can opt to season it more, and it is virtually unbreakable.

Cons: Just like any cast iron piece, it has its own cleaning/seasoning rules. However, it's easier to clean than a porous stone.

Comments: The versatility of this one earns some bonus points. There's a certain romance to using a stone rather than metal, but this does the job. The lip, though seemingly a drawback, proved not to be.

Fibrament Baking Stone

Pros: An almost endless selection of sizes, you can custom-order a stone to fit your oven and your particular needs. The crust gets crisp—not as crisp as the Emile Henry, but similar to the King Arthur Flour stone.

Cons: There are dire warnings about getting the stone wet. That means cleaning is limited to scraping.

Comments: The water warnings associated with this stone limit its versatility—especially for bread baking that involved spritzing the loaves mid-bake. Best for customizable sizing.

See the slideshow for the complete results!

After eating the same pizza every week for 12 weeks, I'm ready to wrap up this series on pizza baking surfaces and eat some different pizzas.

The Best Surface for Baking Pizza, Part 12: All-Clad Soapstone

2011-06-07T13:30:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

More Surfaces

Quarry Tiles »
Double-Stacked Tiles »
Aluminum Pan »
Cheap Pizza Stone »
King Arthur Baking Stone »
Emile Henry Stone »
Pizza Screen »
Pizza Screen and Baking Stone »
Parchment and Baking Stone »
Fibrament Baking Stone »
Lodge Cast-Iron PIzza Pan »

I was first aware of All-Clad when a company I worked for sent me to Pittsburgh for a few months. I visited the nearby(ish) All-Clad factory for business and later went to their factory sale. When I got home with my new toys, people were unimpressed. No one had heard of All-Clad. But I didn't care. I had seen inside those pots, and I knew very well what I had.

What does this have to do with pizza stones? Well, when I was researching stones, I saw that All-Clad had a pizza stone. And unlike all the man-made products, this one was a hunk of soapstone. The stone itself is 13 inches in diameter, 3/5-inch high, and weighs 9 pounds, 10 ounces. It comes with a metal ring with handles that the stone fits into for transport. (It also comes with a pizza cutter.) What mine didn't come with was a care and use sheet. Apparently there's supposed to be one in the box. After contacting All-Clad, they emailed a PDF of the instructions.

Meanwhile, I did some research about soapstone and thought I had just about all the information I needed, even without the official company brochure. But when I got the information from All-Clad, some of what they said conflicted with what I found on other sites. For example, All-Clad said that the suggested maximum temperature was 450 degrees; other sites said that much higher temperatures were perfectly fine. All-Clad suggested that the stone didn't need to be seasoned with oil first; other sites called for seasoning with olive oil or vegetable oil, some said mineral oil was preferred, and still others said that seasoning was required, rather than just suggested.

Although the instructions don't say as much, the metal ring is strictly intended for out-of-oven use. Its purpose being for holding and transporting the stone once it is out of the oven. (That explains why some people on Amazon complained about the metal darkening in the oven.)

Other care instructions note that the stone can be washed with soap and water and that you can cut directly on the stone. Since the stone is a little soft, it scratches, but light sanding will smooth it out again. Seasoning, according to All-Clad, can make the stone more non-stick, but the seasoning happens over time with use. One benefit to seasoning it right away is that it gives the stone's surface a uniform color.

In the end, I decided to season the stone (which turned it from a light gray to a dark gray: see above) and then treat it just like every other stone I used and preheat it to 550 degrees for 1 hour. In the process, the dark gray turned to a dark brown and there was some smoking from the oil residue on the stone. At 45 minutes, the stone was at 501 degrees, and at 1 hour it was at 539F.

At 8 minutes, I pulled the pizza out. The cheese wasn't quite as browned as with some of the pizzas, but it was melted and bubbly. The pizza was also a little puffier than it had been in previous tests. I didn't bother taking the stone out of the oven and putting it into the metal ring for serving, but rather removed the pizza directly from the stone.

When I cut it, there was a nice crunch, and the bottom had the most char (and the darkest black) spots of any of the pizzas. If you're not looking for that much color, then reduce the heat to the recommended 450 degrees.

Overall, it was a good pizza, and if getting char is a priority, this one accomplishes that. The metal ring that comes with the stone make it easier to transport and would offer a nice presentation, but moving a screaming hot stone to that metal ring might be troublesome.

This stone (including the metal ring and pizza cutter) sells for $125.

There you have it: Twelve pizzas, twelve different baking surfaces. Next week check back for a summary and comparison of all of the baking surfaces tested in this series. And then I think I'll celebrate with, oh, I don't know... maybe a delivery pizza?

The Best Surface For Baking Pizza, Part 11: Lodge Cast Iron Pizza Pan

2011-05-31T13:30:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

More Surfaces

It's hard to believe I haven't tested every possible pizza cooking surface yet, but I'm still at it. This time, we're talking heavy metal. As in cast iron. Specifically, the Lodge cast-iron pizza pan.

This pan came highly recommended by several loyal Serious Eats readers, and right off the bat it's clear that it has got several things going for it. For one, it's not breakable. A reoccurring complaint with just about every other stone is that they can crack from thermal shock or from general clumsiness. It takes a lot of dedication to break a cast-iron pan.

In addition, this 9 pound, 14 ounce pan is so heavy-duty that it can be used on the stovetop, under a broiler, or on a grill. Heck, when not making pizza, it can be used as a griddle. In fact, that will help season it. The pan comes pre-seasoned, but as any owner of cast-iron cookware knows, it only gets better with more seasoning. However, it's not like it's going to be used to cook scrambled eggs. Pizza dough won't present a sticking problem, even on the first visit to the oven.

A slight downside to this pan is that it's not completely flat. Handle-to-handle the pan measures 18 1/2 inches, but the lipped baking surface measures 14 inches in diameter. Pizzas that exceed the 14 inches, or dough that lands off-center on the pan, will run into the lip instead of having a bit of dough drooping over the edge.

As usual, I preheated the oven at 550 degrees for 1 hour. At 45 minutes, the pan was at 539 degrees, and it was at the same temperature at 1 hour. The pizza baked for exactly 8 minutes and emerged fully cooked.

This was the first pizza that had burnt spots...er, I mean lovely char ... on several spots on the bottom. And crisp? Yes, it was. As I was cutting into it, there was a nice reassuring crunching sound. The crust was about as good as it gets.

The Lodge pizza pan sells for $35.

The Best Surface For Baking Pizza, Part 10: Fibrament Baking Stone

2011-05-24T20:15:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

More Surfaces

With most baking stones, you get what's available — a uniform size and thickness. Maybe there's a choice of round or rectangular, or a couple of standard sizes, but you're still limited by what's available. The greatest benefit of the Fibrament baking stone is that you can specify exactly the size you want. There are several standard sizes, but if want something different you can order whatever you like; perfect for an odd-sized or custom oven. The stone I have is 15x17 and 3/4 inches thick. Greenish in color, the stone is simultaneously slick to the touch and bumpy. It's obviously not the same material as your usual stone.

The instruction that came with the stone explained that it needed to be cured, by heating at progressively higher temperatures. This is supposed to drive out any residual moisture, thereby preventing cracking. There are also warnings about NOT washing it with water. The recommend cleaning method is to brush it with a dry cloth, or if things are burned on, heat it until the stuff burns off, and then brush off the residue.

Like all the other pizzas, I preheated the oven for 1 hour at 550 degrees. At 45 minutes, the stone was 535 degrees and at one hour, it was 539 degrees. Because I ordered a slightly larger stone it made pizza placement easier than when I worked with some of the smaller stones. After the usual eight minutes, the pizza was baked and ready to go.

The bottom came out crispy and was nicely browned with darker patches. Of all the cooking surfaces tested so far, this one didn't produce the crispest bottom, but the results wouldn't disappoint.

The standard sizes of Fibrament stones range from $43-$90.

The Best Surface For Baking Pizza, Part 9: Parchment and Stone

2011-05-17T18:15:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

More Surfaces

Quarry Tiles »
Double-Stacked Tiles »
Aluminum Pan »
Cheap Pizza Stone »
King Arthur Baking Stone »
Emile Henry Stone »
Pizza Screen »
Pizza Screen and Baking Stone »

During this series, quite a few people commented about the value of using parchment paper to transfer pizza to the oven, so I figured I'd give it a try before I moved on to more stones. Since I used the King Arthur Flour baking stone for the test with the pizza screen, I figured it would be fair to use that same stone with the parchment paper. As usual, I heated the stone for 1 hour at 550 degrees before I slid the pizza, with the parchment paper under it, into the oven.

I still used my peel to get the pizza into the oven, since moving a floppy pizza on a flimsy piece of parchment paper would be silly. It all worked well enough, except that I'm used to a peel with cornmeal, rather than a peel with parchment paper on it.

I was assuming I could slide the pizza off the same way, but that didn't work as expected. I had to pull out the rack with the stone on it, and then pull the parchment paper and pizza onto the stone. Consequently, the oven door was open longer than usual, resulting in heat loss. If I was going to try this again, I'd be quicker or find a better way to get the parchment to leave the peel. Ultimately, this attempt was clumsier than simply sliding a pizza off a cornmeal-sprinkled peel.

About four minutes into baking, I wanted to turn the pizza around so it would bake evenly. I figured that the easiest thing to do would be to grab a corner of the parchment paper and spin the whole thing around. The corner was crispy, so it tore. I tried again and ended up with the parchment crinkled under the pizza. I had intended on leaving the parchment under the pizza for the entire baking time, but at that point it made more sense to pull it out, turn the pizza, and shut the oven door.

The parchment slipped out easily. One corner of the paper was well-browned, and while I'm sure it would have lasted another four minutes, there was no point in leaving it under the pizza once it could be removed.

After eight minutes, the pizza was ready to come out. Whatever loss of heat that occurred during the oven loading didn't seem to affect the pizza's cooking time; a testament to the value of a pizza stone. Both the bottom and the top of the pizza were well-cooked. One possibility is that the loss of oven heat prompted the oven to cycle on right away; helping to cook the top of the pizza from heat convection, while the stone's heat retention nicely cooked the bottom.

When I cut into it, there was a reassuring crunch.The bottom was mottled brown. It was slightly crisp, not limp at all, but not as crunchy as some of the pizzas baked directly on stones. It resembled delivery pizza, in a good way.

The texture was great — no sogginess, gumminess, or doughiness. It was as good as the pizzas baked directly on the stone, except for the crispness factor. I was surprised there was such a noticeable difference, considering the pizza spent the last four minutes on the naked stone. Removing the parchment earlier on in the baking might have resulted in more crunch.

Not everyone's looking for a super-crunchy crust, so parchment is a good way to adjust that crispy-crunchiness, without compromising the overall quality of the crust. Whether it's easier... I'll let you decide.

The Best Surface For Baking Pizza, Part 8: Screen and Stone

2011-05-10T16:00:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

More Surfaces

Quarry Tiles »
Double-Stacked Tiles »
Aluminum Pan »
Cheap Pizza Stone »
King Arthur Baking Stone »
Emile Henry Stone »
Pizza Screen »

Last week, I tested a pizza screen. Although it made handling the pizza a lot easier, the bottom of the pizza didn't crisp very well. Since the easier handling is such a huge plus for people who aren't adept at getting a pizza off of a peel and onto a hot stone, I decided to give the screen another chance. But this time, I also used a baking stone under the screen.

For this test, I used the King Arthur Flour baking stone I tested previously, and preheated the oven to 550 degrees for 1 hour with the stone inside. I assembled the pizza on the screen and slid it into the oven on top of the pizza stone. I baked it for exactly 8 minutes and it looked nicely done on top.

When I cut into the pizza it wasn't as crisp as I expected. There was no crackle before I hit the cutting board. Hmmmm....

The underside was golden rather than the brown I expected, and while the crust was fully cooked and not soggy, it was softer than I expected, as well. The interior texture was fine; the difference was just the bottom. Tapping on the bottom of the crust, there was a thin layer of crisp, but nothing like any of the pizzas baked on any of the stones.

Obviously, the direct contact with the stone was lacking, but I had expected that the close proximity to the hot stone would be enough to crisp and brown my crust in the standard eight minutes I'd set for this experiment. But no, that close proximity wasn't quite enough to do the job.

And that's the interesting thing about these experiments. More than once, I've expected one result and gotten another. I'm sure there's a way to get a crisp pizza bottom with the combination of a pizza screen and a baking stone. Moving the pizza off the screen about halfway through cooking would probably do the trick.

On the other hand, if you prefer your crust a little less crisp, this method might be just about perfect, considering the ease in handling the pizza and the fact that the crust was otherwise pretty good.

The Best Surface for Baking Pizza, Part 7: The Pizza Screen

2011-05-03T14:00:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

More Surfaces

Quarry Tiles »
Double-Stacked Tiles »
Aluminum Pan »
Cheap Pizza Stone »
King Arthur Baking Stone »
Emile Henry Stone »

If you haven't seen one up close and personal, a pizza screen is just what it sounds like. Mine is exactly 14 inches in diameter, and is made from expanded aluminum with a solid aluminum rim. The theory is that the screen allows the heat of the oven to hit the dough directly. I've made pizzas on a grill (directly on the grates) and I liked the result. I figured this would be similar.

As usual, I preheated the oven for an hour before baking, and I baked the pizza for exactly 8 minutes. When I took it out, I smelled a slight burning odor. When I peeked under the pizza, I saw a bit of char.

I sliced the pizza and didn't hear the distinct crunch that I'd grown used to with my most recent tests. The bottom of the pizza wasn't soggy, but it wasn't crisp, either. Slices were just a little limp.

When I turned over the first slice for a photo, it was evenly browned, but lighter than I expected based on my earlier peeking.

But of course, the pizza cooked unevenly because the heat was so direct from the heating element. There were some slices that were much darker on the bottom.

I've got to say that this wasn't terrible pizza. the crust wasn't crisp, but it was well cooked, not doughy. It reminded me of leftover pizza where the crust had lost its crunch and gone soft. Some people prefer a softer crust, so this might be the best option for them.

On the plus side, a screen makes pizza handling easy since there's no need to shuffle a pizza off of a peel. You place the dough on the screen, top it, and slide the whole thing into the oven. The other plus is that screens are cheap.

While I used the screen as the sole cooking surface, there's no reason why you couldn't use a screen to contain and transport the pizza, but place the screen on a heated stone for cooking. Gee, I wonder what I should test next?

Similar screens sell for under $10.

The Best Surface for Baking Pizza, Part 6: Emile Henry Stone

2011-04-26T14:30:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

More Surfaces

Quarry Tiles »
Double-Stacked Tiles »
Aluminum Pan »
Cheap Pizza Stone »
King Arthur Baking Stone »

Most of the cooking surfaces for pizza have been around for a while. There are a multitude of variations on pizza stones of different thicknesses and different materials. But this stone from Emile Henry has some interesting features.

First, unlike most pizza stones, the Emile Henry stone is glazed. The point of using stone or ceramic instead of metal is that the stone absorbs moisture from the dough, resulting in a crisper crust. So, glazing sounds like a bad idea, right?

According to packaging description, the glaze is "micro-crazed" which sounds a lot like my mental health some days, but it actually means that the glaze has teeny cracks, so the stone can still absorb moisture. I'll take their word for it, since my electron microscope is in the wash. One benefit of the glaze is that it's easier to clean, and even dishwasher safe, if you're so inclined.

Another difference is that this stone is "flameware" which means it can be used on the stovetop. While the pizza stone isn't "recommended" for stovetop use, the instructions say it can be done, if the stone is heated slowly on the largest burner. While that might not be a huge consideration when you're making pizza in your oven, it does open the possibilities for using the stone a little more creatively. For example. you could preheat the stone on the stovetop while something else is in the oven.

The stone is also recommended for use on the grill, and there are recipes for using the stone as a griddle rather than just a baking surface.

The stone has handy "ears" that make it easy to grab, even with oven mitts on. The usable surface is 14 1/4 inches in diameter, and the total width, ear-to-ear, is 16 3/4 inches. For the fashion conscious, the stone comes in several different colors.

Aesthetics aside, how does it perform?

As usual, I preheated the oven at 550 degrees for 1 hour. The temperature at 45 minutes was 525 degrees and at one hour it was 539 degrees. I baked the pizza for exactly 8 minutes and removed the pizza—and stone—from the oven. See, that's where those ears come in handy.

According to the instructions, the stone is perfectly safe to cut on, so I proceeded to cut the pizza. Oddly, no matter which cooking surface I use, the pizza always ends up in squares.

How'd it turn out? The bottom of the pie was mottled brown and very crisp. Of all the cooking surfaces tested so far, this one resulted in the crispest bottom.

If you're cooking several pizzas in sequence, you're probably not going to be taking the stone out of the oven. But if this is a one-pie event, the stone does a nice job of keeping a pizza hot during serving. Up here at high altitude food tends to cool off faster, and my husband noted that this was the first time we've had food that was still hot 15 minutes after serving. The hot stone also kept the crust crisp, and the bits of cheese that oozed onto the stone cooked to nice crispy bits.

I haven't had this stone long enough to discuss durability, and like any clay, ceramic, or natural stone, it could be affected by thermal shock. Otherwise, there's not much downside to this product. It's more expensive than cheap quarry tiles, but in the same ballpark as many other stones. It sells for $50 on Amazon, and there's a new rectangular stone that's available for the same price.

The Best Surface for Baking Pizza, Part 5: Baking Stone

2011-04-19T14:45:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

More Surfaces

Quarry Tiles »
Double-Stacked Tiles »
Aluminum Pan »
Cheap Pizza Stone »

Go shopping for a new pizza stone, and you'll find a huge variety of surfaces, from metal to clay to natural stone to man-made composites. If you were going solely by recommendations from respected testers, you might settle on the baking stone sold by King Arthur Flour.

The King Arthur Flour catalog quotes a review from Cook's Illustrated:

We tested 10 baking stones and came to prefer a fairly large one (16 by 14 inches is ideal) with smooth edges. The Baker's Catalogue Baking Stone's moderate weight and ample size make it our favorite.

The stone is a yellowish beige color, with a slightly mottled appearance and a smooth surface. It weighs 10 lbs. 4 3/4 ounces and stands 1 inch high. The stone itself is 1/2 inch thick, but it has feet and a thicker center section. The price is $54.95.

As with every other stone, I set the oven to 550 degrees and checked the temperature of the stone at 45 minutes into the preheat (527 degrees) and one hour (549 degrees).

Time for pizza! After 8 minutes of baking, the pizza was nicely browned on the bottom, with a very crisp crust. The top was well-cooked as well.

The results from this stone were similar to what I got with the quarry tiles. The crust was just slightly crisper, and more mottled brown with slightly darker and lighter spots.

Despite the similarity in the overall result, this stone had several advantages over the quarry tiles. First, it's made for food use, so there's no need to worry about lead and health issues.

Second, it's one piece, so there's no moving, shifting or adjusting. It goes into the oven and it stays in place. At first, I thought the legs were a little silly. Why not make it flat? But then I realized the the legs made it easier to grab the stone and get it in and out of the oven.

The downside: buying a dedicated baking stone is more expensive than buying quarry tiles. But in my mind, it's worth the expense. A well-treated stone will last a long time, and over the course of its life, you won't be cursing about the quarry tiles shifting around in the oven.

The Best Surface for Baking Pizza, Part 4: Double-Stacked Tiles

2011-04-12T16:45:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

When I tested quarry tiles for baking pizza, I used 6 tiles in a 2x3 grid. But I have 12 tiles, so I decided to see if there was any benefit to stacking the tiles on top of each other.

The theory is that a thicker stone holds heat better, which is why many bakers seek out the thickest baking stones they can find. I was pretty happy with the way the pizza baked on my single layer of quarry tiles, but wondered if a double layer would be better.

I preheated the oven for an hour as I had before for the other tests. At the 45-minute mark, the tiles were at 525 degrees and at one hour, it was at 549 degrees, which is slightly lower than they were when I tested the single layer at the same interval.

After exactly 8 minutes of baking, the pizza was done, with a nicely browned underside. The top was just slightly less baked than the previous pizza. Not enough say it wasn't done enough, but the difference was enough to be noticeable. I wasn't sure what to attribute that to, and I also wondered why the stone wasn't any hotter than 549 degrees after an hour in the oven.

It took me just a little while to figure out the answer to both of those questions.

The difference wasn't the thickness of the double layer—it was the oven going through its heat cycles. You see, ovens don't actually hold a steady temperature. They heat up and and cool down, over and over, cycling by as much as 50 degrees from the high point to the low point. Since I was timing my baking precisely, I assumed that my oven would be at the same point in its cycle at the same time for each pizza, but I didn't account for the fact that heating a different mass of tiles would cause the oven to heat at a different rate.

Not only does the air temperature fluctuate inside the oven as it cycles on an off, but you're also dealing with convection currents. When the heating element is on, the air is moving more than when the heating element is off. A pizza in an oven that's at 500° with the heating element at full blast can actually brown faster than a pizza in an oven that's at 550° with the heating element off, since the air is much stiller in the latter case. These convection currents are also what helps things bake more quickly in a convection oven than in a traditional one.

When you're cooking something for a long time, the oven's temperature fluctuations don't make as much of a difference, since it balances out over the long cooking time. But when you're cooking something for just 8 minutes, those temperature fluctuations and convection currents make more of a difference.

Given that it's just the top of the pizza that cooked differently and not the base, it's pretty safe to assume that it's due mostly, if not completely to oven cycles. The quarry tiles—or baking stones—in the oven somewhat mitigate the effects of the oven cycles on the bottom of your pizza, since the stones hold heat which is then transferred directly to the dough.

In the end, there was very little difference between the pizzas baked on the single or double layers of quarry tiles, and the little difference could easily be attributed to the oven rather than the tiles. Since the bottom crusts were nearly identical, I'd call this a tie.

Since the results were so close, I don't see any benefit in stacking the tiles—the effort of arranging 12 tiles instead of six just isn't worth it.

To mitigate my annoyance with stacking tiles, I bought a 3/4 sheet pan to hold them. That worked to allow me to take them out all at once, but they still shifted around enough so that if I was placing the tile-filled pan in the oven, I needed to adjust the tiles once the pan was in place.

The benefit to using the pan was that it caught drips and spills that fell between the tiles. But the real downside was the ghastly scraping noise it made whenever I put the pan in or took it out. If I ever go back to using quarry tiles, I'll opt to use six tiles and arrange them directly on the rack.

But how will these tiles fare compared to stones products that are actually made with pizza in mind? Don't worry, we're getting there.

The Best Surface For Baking Pizza, Part 3: Quarry Tiles

2011-04-05T17:00:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

When my favorite pizza stone broke a while back, I started shopping for a new one. I thought it would be pretty easy to make a purchase—find one that was the right size and decently thick, and then pay for it. It wasn't long before I was mired in indecision. I knew it would take me a while to sort through details and narrow the field down a bit, so I opted for the super-cheap temporary fix—unglazed quarry tiles.

I found my quarry tiles at Home Depot, and they were 6 inches square and slightly under 1/2 inch thick. Six tiles weight 7 pounds, 13 ounces, and made a 12x18 inch landing zone for pizza and bread. Not the ideal size, but I couldn't beat the price—I paid just 67 cents a piece for the tiles. I bought 12 since they were so cheap.

One criticism of quarry tiles is that since they're made for floors, they may not be food safe. Lead is the usual culprit that people worry about, so if it's a concern, you can buy a lead testing kit and see if your particular tiles have a higher lead content than you're comfortable with.

As with the previous cheap baking stone test, I preheated the stone for an hour at 550 degrees. I tested the tile temperature at 45 minutes, and it was 553 degrees. At 1 hour, it was 554 degrees.

The pizza baked for exactly 8 minutes and emerged fully cooked and crisp.

The bottom was nicely browned as well. I thought this pizza came out better than the one baked on the cheap pizza stone—it was just a little crisper on the bottom.

One downside to using tiles is that you've got a lot of pieces to put in and take out. A stone is just one piece—well, maybe two if you're using one that has cracked. But arranging six tiles so they're in the center of the rack and butted up against each other takes a little more time. In theory, you could leave them in the oven, but I'm constantly moving my oven racks into different positions. Even if I take the rack out with the tiles on the rack, they move around enough that I have to readjust them when I want to bake on the tiles.

Also, if you're a little rough with placing bread or pizza, those stones can shift around as you place your baked goods on the tiles.

Another downside is that whatever spills onto the stones can drip between. Whether that's pizza goo or cornmeal, it can end up on the oven floor.. A solid stone will contain that mess much better.

The last downside is the size. A 12x18 inch landing zone is pretty good for baking bread, but it's just a little small for pizza.

As far as I'm concerned, tiles are a great short-term option while you're waiting for a better stone to arrive. For long-term use, they're a little annoying to work with.

The Best Surface For Baking Pizza, Part 2: Aluminum Pan

2011-03-29T14:30:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

While pizza stones like the one we tested last week are pretty popular, they have their drawbacks: they're bulky, heavy, and a little pricey. How does a cheaper, thinner, lighter aluminum pizza pan compare?

The pizza pan I used for this test was 14 inches in diameter and had a bit of raised edge, but otherwise was nothing special. It's made from medium gauge aluminum (about the thickness of a standard cookie sheet), and can be found online or in restaurant supply stores for just a few bucks.

I had never cooked pizza on this pan before this test—I'd only used it for serving pies, so I didn't know what to expect before I started.

With a pan this thin, there's really no point in preheating it in the oven like you would a stone. I let the empty oven preheat at 550°F for an hour before I slid the pan—and pizza—into the oven.

Because a pizza cooked on an aluminum pan doesn't get the thermal boost that a pre-heated stone offers, I expected right off the bat that it would take longer to bake. Still I checked the pie after eight minutes (that's how long an identical pizza took to bake on a stone). The top of the pizza was obviously undercooked, cheese just beginning to melt in the center. The underside of the pizza was pale. It was pretty obviously underdone, so I snapped a few photos and popped it back into the oven.

Two minutes later, a quick peek showed that it was still underdone. Finally, at around 14 minutes, it had achieved a similar level of browning that the stone had achieved in just 8. But how did the flavor compare?

The outer portions of the pizza crust weren't bad—crisp and flavorful. But beyond that, it was a little disappointing. It wasn't undercooked, but it had a texture that my husband described as "doughy." I've enjoyed pizzas with crusts ranging from cracker-crisp to thick and fluffy, but this had more in common with an English muffin pizza that anything else I can compare it to. On the plus side, the bottom was crisper than I expected—not at all soggy—but that wasn't enough to make the crust a complete success.

I'm gonna let Kenji explain a little bit about why the crust might have come out thicker:

It's odd, because you'd actually expect the opposite. A pizza baked on a heated stone should experience more oven spring—the initial rapid inflation of bubbles in the dough from the heat of the oven—as a pie baked on a stone with more thermal mass. When you place a pizza on a stone, the gluten in the flour is still relaxed and raw, making it much easier to stretch. Air bubbles and steam pockets inside the dough expand rapidly, causing the bubbles to balloon outwards. Eventually, the gluten cooks, and gets fixed into that shape. On an aluminum pan, however, the heating is more gradual. By the time the air pockets start to expand significantly, the gluten has already begun to set, making it much harder to get it to rise properly. The result is a doughier, under-risen crust.

As for why your crust ended up thicker than the stone-baked pizza? I'd guess that it probably has more to do with the amount of time it sat in contact with the sauce before it was completely baked. Because it took so much longer to cook through, a lot of the sauce could have soaked into the dough, making it thicker, and soggier. Of course, this is just a conjecture for now—more testing is in order!

I can see why pizza pans might have gained some popularity in terms of ease of use. Since you build the pizza in the pan that you bake on, the new baker doesn't have to worry about dealing with a pizza peel and transferring the unbaked pie to a stone. Cleanup is easy, too—no peel to dust off, no cornmeal on the pizza stone, and unless your pizza is seriously messy, all drips are contained in the pan.

Despite the ease of use, the crust wasn't as good as it was when the same recipe was baked on the cheap, thin pizza stone we tested last week. However, this pan might be more successful for other types of pizzas or different baking techniques. I'd also be interested in trying out a combination—constructing the pie on the aluminum pan, then transferring the entire pan to a pre-heated pizza stone. Perhaps we can get the best of both worlds?

Similar pans sell for $10-$15.

The Best Surface for Baking Pizza, Part 1: Cheap Pizza Stone

2011-03-22T14:30:00Z

[Photographs: Donna Currie]

There's more to baking pizza than just shoving it into a hot space. That dough needs to sit on top of something. You can cook your pizza on a stone, on a pan, or some special pizza baking device—but are the results different enough to recommend one surface over another? What are those differences?

Whenever someone asks this question, inevitably someone else will say "I use this thing and I love it!" That's a great endorsement, but it doesn't offer comparisons. Would you love a different baking surface just as much? Is a cheap alternative just as good—or better—than something more expensive? Does weight, thickness, or mass matter?

Over the course of my next few columns, I'll be testing a variety of cooking surfaces to see how they perform. To make the test fair, I'll be using the same recipe each time. For baking, the oven will be set at 550 degrees and preheated for one hour. The pizzas will be baked for 8 minutes and I'll take photos so we can compare them, and I'll continue baking any that aren't done.

When I'm making the pizzas, there might be some slight differences in size and shape, but I'll try to keep them as consistent as possible.

Let's get started, shall we?

I decided to start the testing with a cheap, basic pizza stone—the sort of stone that you'd own if you got it as a gift from someone who doesn't bake a lot. The stone is just under 13 inches in diameter and stands slightly less than 1/2 inch tall when measuring it standing on a flat surface. But since it has ridges on the bottom, it's actually less than 1/2 inch thick. It weighs 3 1/4 pounds. (You can get a similar one on Amazon here.)

The material is (or, rather, was) a light-colored ceramic. This stone has been around for a number of years, and has stood up to high temperatures in my grill.

At 45 minutes into the preheat, I measured the surface temperature with an infrared thermometer, and the stone was at 524 degrees. At one hour, it was still at 524 degrees.

On the plus side, this sort of stone is small and lightweight, so it's easy to move around and to store. On the downside, it's small. My pizza placement wasn't perfect and one edge of my pizza crust fell over one side of the stone when I tried to get it positioned.

So how did it fare?

Overall, the cooking performance wasn't terrible. The pizza could have used another minute—or maybe two—for those who like their crusts a little darker, but it was perfectly acceptable, and better than many pizzas I've paid for. This will be my baseline pizza that I'll compare the others to.

Because of the size of this particular stone, I wouldn't recommend it unless you tend to bake small pizzas or you have a small oven that won't accommodate a larger stone. Similar stones sell for about $20, so it's not a big investment.