stone for oven in melbourne?

Croc

i been looking around but so far i can only find round pizza stone, i had one of those and it did "ok" but it isn't perfect and main issue i have is its shape and size....

was doing some naan breads and it is pain to work with round stone, i could only do one at the time or two small, if i had full size rectangular shape stone i could easy do 3-4 naans at once....

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Croc 2008 March 4


kleenmaid build in oven

i believe it is most typical size for build in ovens, 56 litre capacity

 

 

JohnD's picture
JohnD 2008 March 13

I reckon get a shallow baking tray,as close to the whole size of your rack,as u can get. 2cm would be deep enough, or 3 if you can find (or make) the tray.

Get some pyro (fire ) cement from a refractory like Darleys (vic), theres a cement called Istra40 which works. make it up,and fill the tray w it. When it goes off, it should be a custom made perfect "sole" for you not wood-fired oven . Should be really practical(pizza) and roomy.............. and......you could also try potters clay which is easy to buy(maybe mixed w some renderers sand 1/3, wood ash(coupla handfuls) and water to the correct consistency...spreadable but not wet). Ive always thought that should work if initially fired correctly.

TeckPoh's picture
TeckPoh 2008 March 13
[quote=JohnD]

I reckon get a shallow baking tray,as close to the whole size of your rack,as u can get. 2cm would be deep enough, or 3 if you can find (or make) the tray.

Get some pyro (fire ) cement from a refractory like Darleys (vic), theres a cement called Istra40 which works. make it up,and fill the tray w it. When it goes off, it should be a custom made perfect "sole" for you not wood-fired oven . Should be really practical(pizza) and roomy.............. and......you could also try potters clay which is easy to buy(maybe mixed w some renderers sand 1/3, wood ash(coupla handfuls) and water to the correct consistency...spreadable but not wet). Ive always thought that should work if initially fired correctly.

[/quote]

I'm interested in this. Any idea what temperature to fire it at?

celia's picture
celia 2008 March 13
Croc, I happily use pizza stones, but two suggestions I've been given are :

1. get a kiln shelf/stone made to measure for your oven from a ceramics shop

2. fill the shelf with unglazed terracotta tiles, so that it fills the shelf up completely.

Don't know if either of those suggestions are any good, but thought I'd pass them on just in case.

Cheers, Celia
JohnD's picture
JohnD 2008 March 14
Tekky,As hot as your domestic oven will go..250 ?...for about 3hrs should bisqe?(is that the word?)fire it...which is not hard enough for "hard", but should work fine as a bakestone.You would have to wet it before subsequent bakes.
Bushturkey's picture
Bushturkey 2008 March 17

I measured the dimensions of my home oven (fan-forced electric).

I went to a tiling company and got 2 thick & unglazed ceramic garden tiles - about $5.00 each in Alice Springs - and asked the company to cut them to fit my oven shelves.

I can bake 2 or 3 loaves on them - up to 1.8 Kg of dough.

JohnD's picture
JohnD 2008 March 17
Good one...how thick are the tiles? How do they fit...one each side with a join down the middle? or.....?
JohnD's picture
JohnD 2008 March 18

brick too thick!! take too long to heat,and waste power...tiles at 2-3cm should be ideal.
Bushturkey's picture
Bushturkey 2008 March 18


I'm away from home until Thursday. I'll measure them then.

I think they are 1.5 to 2 cm in thickness (the thickest I could find).

They were bigger, but have been cut to 2 equal-sized pieces that come together in the middle. There is a very slight (and hardly noticeable) step in the middle.

I've put dough directly on them (with and without baking paper) - even slack ciabatta dough, and it doesn't stick.

mozzie 2008 May 10
They make unglazed terracotta stuff. I use 6 of their edging tiles (~10cm x 15cm - easy to store when not in use). These have a wave shaped top - that fits together OK or you could cut it off easily with a tile cutter. They are about 1cm thick

Soak for 24 hrs in water before frist bake and dry out in oven, I spray lightly with canola oil before each, but its probably not necessary.
marcosell's picture
marcosell 2008 May 11
I bought a marble board with rolling pin at a two dollar shop  for about ten bucks  years ago.I pulled the the plastic stubs off the bottom. I've been using the board to bake pizza and bread on for ages and it works a treat.Im not sure that its actually marble. Re concrete: Normal concrete will take about 600 degrees celsius before it explodes. Using refractory concrete is probably unnecessary as you would probably never get it hot enough to fire it to full strength. So a refractory rep. once told me.
lamp's picture
lamp 2008 October 2
I used to have a friendly stone bench maker next door at work. I picked up a piece of natural granite slab that I cut down with a diamond blade on an angle grinder to fit my oven. The slab is the same stuff they make kitchen bench tops out of and is about 15 to 20mm thick. It takes a while to heat up (at least an hour) but all it cost me was a cheap diamond cutting blade as it was an offcut that was going to be thrown out.

It works a treat!
Wet's picture
Wet 2008 October 5
Like Pete I use a lump of granite instead of one of those pizza stones, I found the oven recovers quicker and I get a more even crust ;-)

I was given a Piece by Pete's brother that was one of Pete's off cuts :-D
NZJimmy 2011 April 3

 Sandstone Paver from Bunnings, 30cm x 30cm x about 18mm, $6, works a treat.

 

You can buy 30cm x about 60cm and cut it fit your oven if you have the toolage.  Or wait untill you experiment with pre-heating the stone on an element, in which case you crack one in a couple of minutes...  and have 1 + 1/2 stones that fit the oven rack nicely.

 

Hard to know how to get around pre-heating an oven for an hour though... If I can find a nice thick cast iron tray then I'll try heating that up on an element before putting it into a pre-heated oven.  May be a bit kinder on the environment...  The cast iron will be good as you can apply strong direct heat without cracking it, but I think the stone probably has a higher heat capacity.

 

I'm in an apartment with a fan forced oven that tops out at 200DegC...  Dissapointing, and I am always chasing oven spring.  However with the sand stone I am getting pretty consistent results...  and compliments, so it works for me.

 

 

 

panfresca 2011 April 4

 Bunnings also sell actual bluestone (basalt) pavers, 30 x 30 x 2, for around $10.

I raced around buying gear when I first got interested in sourdough (also bought a galvanised paint roller tin 34 x 21 x 14, which works brilliantly as a cloche for retaining steam), which is when I bought the paver - the stone appealed to me more than concrete, and I figured an igneous stone would have no problem with heat.

I never actually used it though, as my wife gently led me to the cupboard and showed me the 36 x 36 baking stone which came with the oven - oh, and the lovely white oak peel! 36cm is a much better size, and if I didn't have the baking stone, I would definitely either get another paver cut down to size, or get a stonemason to cut me something that size from an offcut, which shouldn't cost too much.

farinam's picture
farinam 2011 April 4

Given that this thread is about three years old, I'll put my two bob's worth in.

I use a terracotta tile, 325x325x15 from Northcote Pottery.

Farinam

George_K 2011 July 17

 On a similar journey and have come across Sarah at 'Sajo Hancrafted Homewares' - Bayswater, Melbourne - 87616459. She is making me a terracotta tile to fit my oven at a very competitive price!!! 

Cheers
George

mozzie 2011 July 17

kymh - Galvanised means zinc coated - at oven temperatures Zn will partly vaporise, and zinc is not that good for you. And there may be other metals in the zinc plating.

panfresca 2011 July 18

 Zinc melts at 419.5°C (787°F!), far beyond the capability of my oven. Are you confusing °F and °C perhaps? 

Beyond its melting point, zinc doesn't boil (vaporise?) till 907°C (1664°F)! So I think I'm safe to say I have no worries with my galvanised cloche.

As for other metals, I think that is unlikely, as I understand that galvanising, being an electroplating process,only deposits pure zinc. But in any case, there is no contact between the cloche and the dough at any stage.

Kym

 

Zhiem 2011 September 5

This is an old thread but I thought I would wake it up again because yesterday I was looking for an oven stone in Melbourne and I could only find pizza stones at the shopping centre. They were okay although maybe a little thin and priced at $25 upwards. But today I found a refractory brick 300x300x40 for only $15. Yes it is thick but for me it suits because my oven is not convectional and tends to burn at the bottom. Just in case anyone is interested, the seller is Refractory Supplies in Nunawading 03 9878 8884.

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