Equipment-Oven Stone

One perk that I really like about my new apartment is my kitchen. The apartment I had in Virginia was very nice in most regards, except that it only had a little kitchenette which really sucked for cooking. Being a baker, one of the biggest boons of this large kitchen is a full sized oven. I have no problem doing anything in there, even big loaves of bread, or a couple trays of items at one.

One piece of equipment that I came to appreciate but had never owned was an oven stone. When in school, we did most of our bread in deck ovens, which is similar in that you are baking directly on a hot surface. I think it was in Friday Harbor, seeing Elaine's bread baked on an oven stone that I appreciated the functionality of the item and its use in one's home. When I was in Virginia, I did most of my baking in loaf pans, which provided nice shaped bread, but it wasn't rustic, wasn't artisan, wasn't very pretty. The other alternative was baking on a cookie sheet but I never had the best luck doing that, I guess it's just not enough heat.

So with a full sized oven I sought a proper oven stone. Well I shouldn't say proper. Commercial oven stones are nice, but they are usually a good $15 or so. And I'm cheap. They are pretty and professional looking, but at the end of the day, they are stones (or some kinda composite). After doing a little research on materials and what works for an oven stone, I decided to just get my own makeshift one. There are a number of materials you can use-granite, marble, terra cotta, brick, volcano stone, probably more. Just gotta make sure they aren't glazed or else you're asking for toxic fumes.

Lucky for me, about 2 blocks from where I live, there is a place called the Re-Store, which is like a thrift shop for construction materials. People drop stuff off and so you can get stuff cheap. This is where I found my oven stone. Well two oven stones. My first one I kinda ruined with melted plastic due to my own idiocy. The second was just as good though. A 20" square piece of granite, about 1/2" thick, and it cost me about $1.25. Not bad. I was a little worried about circulation since it takes up almost my entire oven but I have had no problems. My first one was 16" square but this seems just as good. I usually still bake on a reusable baking sheet-kinda like parchment, because it makes transfer easy, and I'm too cheap to buy a peel which I think would be a bit of a waste for its one use.

When properly treated, oven stones can last a good while. You have to be careful though because they can be pretty easy to break. If they get wet or are put on a cold surface (like a countertop) when they are hot, they are likely to crack or break. Even if that happens, however, it is still good. They still work fine in pieces, if they can be put pretty much back together, and if you bake on a sheet like I do, then any cracks aren't even an issue. They work pretty much fine unless it breaks into too many small pieces but unless you drop it or continually mishandle it, I don't see that being very likely to happen.