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elisamcs

Pizza Stone - Did I buy the right/wrong thing?

elisamcs
17 years ago

I bought a 16 inch square tile at Home Depot. It's the perfect size for my oven, but it has a low sheen glaze on it. Can I still use this for pizza? I read all the posts on this that I could find, and everyone says to buy unglazed quarry tiles, but I thought that the price and the good size made this one a good gamble. Keep or return?

Comments (11)

  • fairegold
    17 years ago

    Return it. The glaze might not be safe for food preparation. My unglazed saltillo tiles were only $.99 at Home Depot.

  • azzalea
    17 years ago

    Not only might the glaze be unsafe for food use, but a glazed tile won't give you the results you want. The unglazed tile/pizza stones are porous and absorbant. The reason you get such a fabulous crust on them, is that they pull moisture from your dough, making the finished product nice and crisp. The glazed tile won't do that for you.

  • sunnyco
    17 years ago

    Can you just flip it over to the unglzed side? There might be some sort of texture though...

    I would just go get some unglazed tile. :)

  • elisamcs
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thanks, everyone, for your input. I went and bought 6, 6 inch travertine tiles, put them on the oven rack, and cooked the best pizza I've ever made on them. The total surface is 12 X 18, and costs less than $13. I use an unrimmed cookie sheet as a peel - using cornmeal - and it worked just fine.

  • sunnyco
    17 years ago

    Isn't travertine marble?

  • elisamcs
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Sunnyco:

    I honestly don't know. They're not as smooth as I would expect marble to be, and they're pitted, some more than others. Does that help?

  • hokies
    17 years ago

    I went to Home Depot today looking for saltillo Mexican tiles and was told that the manufacturer stopped making them a couple of months ago. Lowes told me the same thing a day before. So I headed back to the tiles section and picked up eight 6" Mayflower quarry stone tiles for 30 cents each. Red stuff and unglazed. Is this what everybody is talking about? I can't wait to try it out this weekend with Costco's 16" square pizza. Can I wash these tiles before use?

    Thanks

  • sunnyco
    17 years ago

    Don't use soap, because they are porous. Just scrub them with water, and maybe a little white vinegar, and make sure you let them heat up well before you put your pizza on.

  • elisamcs
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I was hunting high and low for the quarry tiles, but just couldn't find them anywhere. I settled for the travertine tiles which work wonderfully. But at 30 cents for the quarry tiles, I should have looked longer!

  • klaa2
    17 years ago

    You bought the wrong thing, return it before someone becomes ill. I can see the headlines now.....

  • theseanman66_clearwire_net
    15 years ago

    I just picked up an 18" X 18" piece of Travertine from a local tile outlet and when I asked the guy behind the counter how much it would be he said "take it, it's a sample". The thing about travertine is, though it looks glazed, the shiny side is that way because it was polished, no chemicals involved.

    I wish it was a little thicker, but you can't beat FREE!