Hi all,
I have been reading about baking the loaves on an oven stone. Can you fit 2 loaves on one stone 30 x 30 cm, or should I use 2 oven stones. This would make the weight very heavy and I don't know if the shelf can support such weight. Would I have to then place the stones on the bottom of the oven?
Please advise what you do.
Thanks
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Replies
Hello Countrygirl1,
If you are tinning your bread then no problem at all. But I suspect that you aren't.
Then it will depend on the size and shape of your loaves.
I have a stone 325*325 and if I make a 1kg loaf then one loaf at a time would be the limit. A batarde of this size just fits diagonally. If I made two 500g loaves then it might be possible to fit depending on the shape.
My inclination would be to bake the loaves sequentially as I am not sure what the heat distribution in the oven would be like with two stones of that size at different levels. The difference in timing for sequential baking should not be sufficient to cause any problems.
Hope this helps.
Farinam
I wouldn't stack the stones on different shelves, but if you can fit them side by side (presumably have to cut to size), that would be the go. The shelf would have no trouble supporting that weight.
Getting two loaves in at once can be a bit awkward - I find the only way is to have them both on the paddle and slide them off at the same time, which leaves little room for error. Like farinam's advice, I prefer to bake them sequentially. The heat retained by the stone means you're not actually using that much extra energy from the oven.
You can have a baking stone cut to your specs. However, they come in standard sizes and I'd just by one of them. A 30 x 30 stone is a little small. I'd get one that is large enough to fit on one of the oven's racks with plenty of room around all sides for air circulation.
I'd set two rack in the oven on the lowest two positions. On the top one, you put the stone. On the bottom one, if you want it, you put a broiler pan full of boiling water. (To keep steam in the oven for a tender crust.)
You don't have to worry about the weight of the stone. The racks are made to hold the weight of a full pan of food and that's more than what the baking stone weighs.
Do NOT wash the stone. Brush it off now and then but getting them wet can cause them to split when heating again.
When you get the stone, check for instructions about tempering it with increasing heat. Some types of stones need that.
Does anyone know where in Melbourne I can get a rectangular baking stone? I'm currently using my pizza stone but that limits the size of loaf (very small baguettes) and it is not very thick.
is a good option in Melbourne, and reasonably cheap. A stonemason or paving supplier will cut to order.
Sorry, double post (d'OH!)
I bought large sandstone pavers from Bunnings 300 ml x 300 ml x 20 ml. They are excellent and cost about $2.50 each. I bake 2 x 1 kgs boules at a time using 2 shelves. I have to rotate the loaves half way through baking as the higher shelf cooks hotter. I preheat the stones for 90 mins before baking. I cn recommend this approach.
Hi jplio1 - thanks for the suggestion. Sounds just what I need, particularly as I broke my pizza stone today while baking a boule. I think the water splashed up when I put it into the tray in the bottom and that's been enough to fracture the stone. @(*#@!
Hello Old Possum,
Sorry to hear about your pizza stone. Not sure what brand you had but one that I owned way back just fell in half for no particular reason, certainly no water in the oven at that stage of my career.
Also recall reading somewhere that sedimentary rocks were a bit of a no-no due to a potential tendency to 'explode' due to trapped moisture or something, and that igneous rock was more suitable such as basalt or granite.
I currently use a terracotta floor tile (325*325*15) that I picked up from Northcote Pottery ages ago for not many dollars. Not sure whether they are still in the business of making their own but flooring centres could be the go for that sort of thing.
All the best.
Farinam
Thanks, Farinam, that's also an excellent suggestion. I had every intention of giving any stone a long, slow, not too hot bake to really dry it out before subjecting it to high heat. Northcote Pottery doesn't have anything suitable any more but Daniel Robertson Bricks & Pavers is in Nunawading and has a wide range of tiles so I'll drop in there after golf on Thursday and see what they can provide.
Cheers...
Just make sure it is uncoated/glazed ie plain terracotta.
Where do you golf on Thursdays?
farinam
Heritage Golf & Country Club
Cheers...
OP
Hi I am new to this baking scene!
I have recently purchased some pavers designed to be the flooring/ walls of a wood fired pizza oven (fire pavers). Just after some advice about treatment prior to using. I have dusted them off, reluctant to use water as I dont want them to crack. Anything else to do. My oven only goes to max of 250 degrees.
Cheers for any advice
Hello Newgoo,
As long as you are happy that there is nothing that is going to contaminate your bread, then dusting should be fine.
If you did want to give them a wash, then just plain water would be best I think. Let them dry in the sun for a couple of days. After that I would temper them by a series of heatings and coolings in the oven. Start off at the lowest temperature that you can set your oven and let it heat for a couple of hours. Then open the door and let it cool right back to RT. Then repeat the heating and cooling to progressively increasing temperatures until you run the oven at full blast.
This is sort of equivalent to the sort of thing you would do in firing-in a wood fired oven to make sure that the moisture is slowly driven off without the chance of a catastrophic failure.
Hope this helps.
Farinam
Woo hoo, I'm now the proud owner of two unglazed terracotta tiles 330 x 330 x 15. These absolutely had to be washed (were sitting under a tree containing birds!). Now to temper them