Enter the characters you see below Sorry, we just need to make sure you’re not a robot. This post may contain affiliate links. If you click baking stone of these links and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. In addition, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
You may well have questioned why your efforts at homemade bread or pizza do not come out the same as the one from the pizzeria or bakery. Well, there is a fairly simple reason to that- it is something called a baking stone. A baking stone is a portable natural stone surface used to bake goods. It is intended to absorb moisture from the dough and help create a crust that is crispy and evenly cooked, resembling the bakery or pizzeria crust. This makes the baking stone an ideal choice for foods made from dough which present a crispy texture with a hint of a crunch.
How Do You Use a Baking Stone? The baking stone when used for baking pizza also goes by the name of a pizza stone. However, this should-be kitchen staple goes beyond being a single-use tool as it can be used for so much more than making pizza. In fact, one of the best uses you can put the baking stone to is for baking bread. The results will yield delicious artisan breads that will closely resemble bread made in a brick oven. If you’re new to bread baking, check out my post with tips and tricks for baking bread.
This quality is a result of the baking stone’s ability for superior heat absorption and retention. The high heat from the stone’s porous surface extracts moisture from the outer side of the dough to produce an impeccably crunchy crust. You need to preheat your baking stone prior to the baking process. 1 inch stones, preheating time could go up to a full hour. This makes the stone heat up and transfer heat straight to the bottom of the bread when the dough is placed on it. This is different from using a baking sheet where the dough is placed on a cold surface and the bread gets off to a cold start on a non-heated surface. The preheated surface allows the bread to bake at a more even temperature all over.