Traditional Pizza Stones

I bought this stone over 2 1/2 years ago, put it in the bottom of my oven, and left it there ever since, only removing it when doing the oven's self-cleaning cycles. It fit perfectly in my oven, even though it is convection and therefore is a bit shallower than a standard oven to allow space for the fan in the back wall. In all that time, it has never cracked. It is the right shape for an oven, and almost any pizza will fit on it just fine. (I did find some monster-sized pizzas from Target that hang over the edge a little bit, but they still work.) To use it, I heat the oven up to 500 degrees. Still a couple hundred degrees shy of a professional pizza oven (which reach over 700 degrees), but the highest temperature a standard oven will allow. I wait another ten to fifteen minutes or so after it reaches temperature to ensure that the stone is as hot as it is going to get, then slide the pizza on using a wooden peel that I bought separately. Ten minutes later, I slip it off the stone using the peel, and it is ready! This works with premade refrigerated pizzas, frozen pizzas, and homemade pizzas. It makes a great crust, which is never soggy regardless of topping overload, and is always crisp on the bottom. Alton Brown is a great source of information, so I have no doubt that his advice of getting an unglazed tile for this purpose will certainly work. However, rest assured that this is not a tile being resold at a high markup as a pizza surface. It has feet molded into the bottom to hold it off the surface, is a better shape and size for the oven cavity, and was manufactured for use with food, rather than being stacked on a pile of construction supplies. It is thick, but is engineered to withstand the kind of thermal stresses I've been subjecting it to for years without cracking. Sure, it is more expensive than a tile, but the cost is still low, and it really lasts. Makes great pizza, too! So, make your own choice about whether to use a tile or not, but keep in mind that the comments about the tiles being so much better seem to be coming only from people who don't own this stone. I don't see any comments like "I bought this and wish I had a cheap tile instead."

Here to buy a replacement for the previous one I bought in 2005! What finally did it in was a friend turning my oven to convection (I always use bake) and then setting it to 550º (I usually only do 425º). All the oils from 20+ years leaked through the bottom center (see first picture); kind of weird to me but it is what happened. Since the oven was so hot, the oils were burning as they leaked out. So 20+ years of awesome service (see second picture) and I wasn't intended to get another one any time soon. Works exactly how you want it to do so. It is heavy; not a complaint in my book. I did not leave it in the oven like the other reviews; we have a baking sheet cabinet. Scrape clean with the long pizza cutter and a quick wash with little to no soap every time.

11/13/2017 Update: Still serving our needs after 10 years of use/abuse. Looks totally black now which only adds to it's character and attests to it's reliability, I read several comments regarding initial odors, etc., I don't know if the supplier has changed and I received a different make. All I can tell you is the one I received has served us well. I am attached a picture of the way it looks today. We've had this for several years and it gets used/abused no less than 3 to 4 times weekly. We use it so often because it does an excellent job baking bread, pizzas, etc. The trick is making sure it is preheated to the desired temperature first (Typically 425 to 500 degree F). You will be amazed at how quickly things bake after that. Whether you are baking a couple of pizzas or dozens of pita bread loafs, it becomes a production machine and you need to keep your eye on it. At these temperatures you definitely need a good tool (peel or similar) to accompany the stone, depending on the typical things you anticipate to bake on it. Unlike the round stones, the rectangular shape affords you more versatility when baking items other than round pizzas. You can experiment with the placement of the stone (which rack/level) depending on what it is you are baking. Start with the middle rack and utilize the Broil function when you want to force or expedite browning. True Dimensions (L, W, H), Weight, and Bottom Side Description: - Length: slightly longer than 16" inches by a 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch - Width: slightly longer than 14" inches by a 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch - Height: 5/8" of an inch (not including the height of the 8 risers underneath - more on that below) - Weight: 11 to 12 pounds Although it may be insignificant to some, I'm being very specific about the dimensions because these were pluses for me. You have some wiggle room when placing a 14" pizza without exposing one of the sides. If you like placing four 7" inch flat breads at a time, you have enough room to do it without overlap or exposure. As for the height, 5/8" of an inch thickness retains a lot more heat than 3/8" or 1/2" inch, not to mention it makes the entire stone less fragile. The bottom of the stone is not flat. It has 8 protruding risers/legs underneath. Four are L-shaped around the corners and four are equally distanced from the center. This makes it easy to place on the rack and pick up when you are done. Between that and the thickness, it does make it slightly heavier than other stones, a compromise I welcome given the advantages. Admire the looks of this stone when you first receive it because it will never ever look that good again! If you have obsessive compulsive tendencies and like to maintain all your kitchen tools the same way they looked when you first bought them, this stone is not for you. Yes, you can add a piece of parchment paper if you like (but not foil for goodness sake), but you will discover, spills and black spots are unavoidable and add character to the stone. Eventually, they do cover the entire surface if you use it enough. I just give it a good scraping now and then and back in the oven it goes. Attempting to use abrasives and soaps will only shorten its life span and the stone will end up soaking chemicals you certainly do not want to serve. This stone is not cheap. Possibly slightly overpriced. You can certainly go to your favorite home improvement store (HomeDepot, Lowe's, etc.) and get a cheap alternative (<$1) as one of the reviewers suggested, or consider some of the other offerings on Amazon. I've tried most of them. I'm a strong believer in "you get what you pay for". Considering the number of years we've enjoyed it, and continue to, it was worth the investment. It makes for a unique gift for cooks that like baking breads and pizzas. I've given these as gifts four times thus far and every single recipient has enjoyed it just the same. Our four kids have lots of fun with it, because we no longer waste half an hour mediating pizza ingredients, too much sauce, not enough cheese, on and on with "have-it-your-own-way" branding! They all make their own individual 7" inch pizzas and can pile whatever they want on it! We can bake four of them at a time. A great hit at birthday parties, I must add! My only wish about this product is a bigger version. Ideally a 21" by 16". This would allow the baking of a 16" pizza and/or 6 loafs of 7" pitas (like Kontos pocketless pitas) at a time, instead of just four. This is my first review ever on Amazon. Benefited so much from other faithful reviewers. It's about time I contribute and make a habit of it because I buy so many things on Amazon. Did my best to share what I appreciated the most in other reviews when making a comparative buying decision. Please let me know if I missed something that would have been of value to include in the review.

I really wanted to love this - it is the recommended pizza stone in America's Test Kitchen, one of my favorite cookbooks. I've used lots of pizza stones in my day and purchased this one after the last one, a smaller, much lighter, round stone, fell out of the cupboard and broke (not pretty). Here is the good,bad and ugly of the replacement: Pros: Heavy, duty High-quality Consistent heating Makes a perfect crust-not too chewy/not too crisp Cons: Super heavy Needs to stay in the oven because it is too big to store anywhere else Takes up alot of space in oven Hard to take in and out of the oven Overall, I've had to use a multi-step process (shown in the pics below) to use this stone so I don't have to take it out of the oven due to its weight and size. If you also make bread, this stone makes more sense than if you just use it for pizza, since you can place two bread dough loaves directly on the stone and the results are fantastic. While the pizza crust comes out better than when I use a cheap, round stone, I don't really make enough bread or pizza to justify space this takes up. If I had to do it again, I'd replace it with a cheap round one I can take in and out of the oven.

I love this rectangular pizza stone which fits perfectly in my Weber Genesis gas grill. It is made in the U.S. of thick lead-free clay and hasn't cracked yet. It is worth every bit of the price. Prior to buying this stone, I used a Pampered Chef pizza stone I received as a gift and it cracked the first time I used it on the grill. This was after heating it the recommended way starting from a cold grill and slowly bringing the temperature up to 550 degrees. It was a clean crack so I lined up the pieces and used it again, but it cracked some more. After that experience, I ordered the Old Stone pizza stone which was recommended by America's Test Kitchen. This stone was substantially thicker and heavier than the other stone and hasn't cracked yet even though I use it several times a week for pizza. It makes all varieties of homemade pizza that is so crisp, delicious and inexpensive that I haven't bought pizza out since making my own. I like the fact that this stone is made in the U.S. out of safe materials. It has discolored in spots due to pizza topping drips, but this hasn't affected the performance or the taste of the pizzas. Clean up is easy, I scrape off any residue with a metal scraper right into the grill which will burn off when the grill is on. When fully cooled, I occasionally rinse the stone with water and a steel scrubby (no soap!) and let completely air dry before using again. Since the stone is thicker, it may take a little longer in the grill to heat up, but I find that after about 15 minutes when the temperature is over 500 degrees, the stone is ready to cook on. This stone really delivers brick oven pizza right at home. I will not go back to store bought pizza ever.

Santa gave this to our house this past Christmas and it was an impulsive move by old Saint Nick. TBH, I wasn't sure how it would work out. Well, it's great! Here are highlights: Full disclosure: I worked for years at an East Coast mom 'n pop pizzeria and I know good pizza. I have my own dough recipe. I also have made bread for decades, and a good stone can make *all* of the difference. Surface: seems crazy, but I had a stone before that stuff just stuck to. No matter how much cornmeal or flour, it was like superglue. In my stone in my kamado style grill, it is split in two--again which can cause sticking or complexity. This product works really well. Seems nonstick in comparison. Surprises: there are little "feet" on the bottom (see photo) and I placed this right in the bottom of my gas oven. None of my prior stones ever had this, and it allowed me to get it extra hot, which led to a perfectly crispy crust! Hooray! Thickness: the stone is a bit thicker than most others on the market, and some that I have owned. Again, this is a good thing, as that mass helps translate into a crispy crust. It is all about the crust. Shape: I now greatly prefer the square to the round shape. It is so much nicer to have a more full cooking surface available to use. You loose square inches in the round shaped ones. Seriously. This extra space is important for rolls, multiple small loaves, sicilian style pizza, and the like. Even things that go on still in a *rectangular pan* that you may wish to get high heat from below, perhaps focaccia as an example. Value: This stone was *amazingly* priced at Amazon in comparison to the bricks and mortar options that I looked at. I'm glad I got it here. (Note: unbiased and uncompensated). Potential cons: it is heavier than most of the stones I have owned. I point it out as it may be an issue for some, depending upon abilities. Again, however, you truly want this mass for heat dissipation for your crust. Unboxing: it came packed extremely well by the manufacturer, with custom plastic foam (not styrofoam) and heavyweight cardboard. It is clear that a lot of thought went into this to ensure that it will arrive in one piece. That is appreciated. The cardboard went right into recycling. A suggestion for the manufacturer: I wish that plastic foam had markings or a symbol on it so it could have gone into our commingled bin instead of the trash. Happy baking!

I bought this stone to replace a beloved pizza stone that broke after many years of use. I use a pizza stone multiple times a week and since my previous pizza stone didn't have any brand marking I started to research pizza stones. I chose this particular stone after finding promising reviews and I thought it was a safe bet. I couldn't have been more wrong. After receiving the Old Stone Oven Rectangular Pizza Stone on 1/5/2020, I cleaned it and put it in the oven to get it ready for use. I moved it to the lowest rack in the oven and preheated it to 450°. The house filled with a smokey, stinging, chemical smell that forced me to open all of the windows and doors in my house (in the middle of winter) and run outside until the smoke/smell cleared. It left my eyes and nasal passages burning. Ok, new stone... new material... it must just need to burn off. I did this a few more times (450°, 480°, 500°) to heat out whatever was on/in the stone. That seemed to do the trick and the smoke and smell seemed to go away. I used the stone a few times a week for about a month. I know my way around a pizza stone and was never happy with the performance of this stone. But, I know that it's mostly trial and error to get the right combination of time and temperature, so I figured I just hadn't hit the sweet spot, yet. Last night (2/21), I preheated the stone to 480° (same temperature I had used the last few times), put our little homemade pizzas on the stone and waited for the 8 minute timer to go off. I heard the little ding, opened the oven and was hit full force with that same smokey, stinging, chemical smell again. My eyes, nose and throat started to burn. I immediately turned off the oven, turned on the fan, opened the windows and doors and took my family outside (still winter). It continued to smoke. After a few minutes of watching my house fill up with that foul smelling smoke, I realized that waiting for it to cool off was not an option. I ran back inside, grabbed my oven mitts, opened the oven, grabbed the smoking stone, and tossed it out the front door into the snow. It is the next day, my house still smells like burned chemicals, my eyes, nose and throat still burn and I am starting my search for a new pizza stone. Do not buy this stone.

I've never owned a baking stone before. But as I try to improve my home-cooking, I read somewhere that baking stone can help produce that crispiness in breads and pizzas. I do lots of South Asian cooking and I've been trying to make good naans (flatbread). I ordered this last May 10, 2012 after much reading and comparison with other baking stones. It arrived today, May 16, 2012---packaging was good (I was afraid it would come broken like so many other reviewers have said here) and except for a shallow, 3-inch scratch on its baking surface (which must've happened pre-packing), it was in excellent shape. Baking stone's thickness is 1/2 inch, minus the raised "feet." Following the instructions in the leaflet that came with it, I washed it with water and dried it thoroughly. Then, I put it inside my oven and cranked up the heat to the highest setting which is 550F. Meanwhile, I made the dough for naan. It was heating inside for almost an hour and half when I put the first naan inside. Result: naan puffed nicely inside, came out perfect with some chewiness and crispiness to it as it should be. I thought that texture-wise, the naan was so much better than when I used to bake it on aluminum foil. They came off the stone without any hassle, no sticking-to-the-stone issue. The naans have left some faint markings on the stone as expected. I just left the stone inside the oven to cool. I'm very happy with my purchase and I'm hoping it would stand a long time of use in my kitchen. EDIT: Checked the stone first thing when I woke up this morning. Just wanted to make sure it's still intact inside my oven. And yes, it's sitting there, cooled down, no cracks at all, looking as good as when it arrived yesterday except for markings from last night's naan-baking. I'm really happy with this purchase.

I just received my Old Stone Pizza Stone! What a joy. It arrived in perfect condition! I have been turning out the most beautiful bread with it! It is easy to use and it has no offensive odour, and it doesn't stain easily either. It worked well with a layer of Parchment paper or with Loaf pans. The bread comes out with a deeper browned crust... and so beautifully baked. I really am pleased with results this Stone is giving me. Just a note, and I could be wrong, but I found that with a pan of water and the stone it confuses the computer if you are using True Convection. I think that the Stone sets up its own convection because the result is the same either with convection (without the stone) or the stone. Takes the same amount of time and the result seems tastier, more finished with the Stone. Alternately, I wonder if I had the stone too high in the oven and it split the oven in two! The moment I put the bread on straight bake, the oven settled down and indicated the correct temperature, within seconds. In any case, the Stone gives you lots of room for Batardi, for Boules and for loaf pans and a nice big Pizza. Just don't put anything greasy on it. So if your product has any quantity of oil put it on a Parchment paper or use a pan. And heat your Stone up with the oven, don't put it in a hot oven cold, and don't try to cool it down in sink water, and above all don't use dish soap on it. Treat like the worker it is and it will serve you well and kiss your bread to goodness. It is great investment for your baking, you'll be pleased! Old Stone Oven 14-Inch by 16-Inch Baking Stone

Broke in half after 2 years for no apparent reason

Funciona de maravilla para pizza y pan! Compré dos y caben justo en el mismo nivel de mi honro de convección (horno profesional). Mi única recomendación es que lean bien el manual de uso, hay un proceso que hacer antes de usarlo por primera vez y tienen que dejarlo precalentar un buen tiempo.

This is a great stone, I didn't write a review early on because I wanted to actually get some experience with it first. I've used it for bread and pizza, for pizza it really helps to have it on a thin nonstick sheet to keep any grease from the cheese from getting into the stone as that will get into the pores and start to stink. It's a nice and thick stone, I've put it in the oven at 100 degrees to raise bread, then when i take the bread dough in bread forms out of the oven to heat it up, I leave them on the stone to keep them warm and rising while the oven heats up ( when baking bread in forms instead of on the stone ). This is fantastic in colder weather when you don't want the dough getting cold while the oven heats up. Haven't had any problems lifting the stone out by the edges with ~5kgs of bread dough and forms sitting on top of it. The thinner stones I seriously doubt that would be a good idea, also talking about thinner stones I've had the chance to handle a few of those 5-10$ 1/4 inch round pizza stones, the texture is nowhere near as nice, and I'm fairly sure I could crack them in half with my bare hands. I should also mention it came in a very nice cardboard box so while I have heard others say theirs broke in transit I'd say it's rather unlikely unless the thing gets seriously beat on. Word of warning though, make sure to follow the first time instructions and always give the stone a good 30 minutes to heat up before trying to bake on it, that's the downside of such a big stone over those thin cheapo ones, it absorbs a LOT of heat. Also get yourself a nice big aluminum pizza peel as well, I bought one off amazon here with a long handle so it's so easy getting bread or pizza in and out of the oven.

Speedy delivery. The weight of this is substantial and it makes a lovely crispy pizza base. Successful with fathead dough on parchment paper as well