Baking Steel for pizza

[flbentrider]

What else would you use it for besides pizza?

We use our stone for biscuits, but we don't pre-heat the stone.

[deb415611]

So does this thing have a teflon coating? How is it for food sticking to it?

no it is not teflon coated,  it is comes preseasoned

[deb415611]

Deb that's good looking pizza!  I'll take the next one please!

what toppings would you like?

[deb415611]

What else would you use it for besides pizza?

We use our stone for biscuits, but we don't pre-heat the stone.

I bought it for pizza,   I will probably try some bread on it.  Other than that I don't have plans for anything else.   It was reviewed on Serious Eats and Kenji talked about using it as a griddle although you would need to be careful since it doesn't have a rim.  Peter Reinhart talked about it on the pizzaquest website and said he wanted to try a steak on it. 

[Savannahsmoker]

Well y'all have answer my question about getting a Pizza Steel but now which one do I purchase.

The one shown by CaptJack or the one shown by deb415611 and some think this outside cooking stuff is easy, decisions, decisions and more decisions. 

[teesquare]

I guess I am most curious about the potential advantages offered by the steel vs the cast iron....?

One would think that the thermal properties would be very similar. But the steel is very smooth....Easier to clean? Less brittle?

Anything I am overlooking?

Still...there is a significant price disparity between the two......

[sparky]

pizza looks great deb.  nice crust on it.   

[fishingbouchman]

Great looking pizza

[Pam Gould]

I found a couple of pieces of the pizza crust cooked in cast iron. .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.
Click on pic to enlarge shot.

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[deb415611]

I guess I am most curious about the potential advantages offered by the steel vs the cast iron....?

One would think that the thermal properties would be very similar. But the steel is very smooth....Easier to clean? Less brittle?

Anything I am overlooking?

Still...there is a significant price disparity between the two......

  I have seen a lot written (including the comparison of the thermal properties) out there and will get the info into this thread.   Some of it depends on what you want to achieve with it.  I'm going for a certain type of pizza which cooks better when cooked in the shortest amount of time.    I'll write about what I'm striving for in a pizza. 

SavannahSmoker - I'll talk about your situation too,   I know you have a pellet grill - how hot will it run,  what temp do you usually bake your pizza at and what type of pizza do you usually make - do you usually put the pizza on a cold stone or hot stone, what are you looking for in a pizza?   

[deb415611]

I found a couple of pieces of the pizza crust cooked in cast iron. .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.
Click on pic to enlarge shot.

that's perfect Pam,  that will give a good comparison when I write up the differences.   Does your pizza go in a cold pan or do you preheat the pan first?

[Pam Gould]

I put mine on a cold pan. I make pizzas at the campground and last time it was 15 pizzas. I just keep making them with no cooling in between. They told me I couldn't make pizzas on a charcoal grill. I go by the crust. If it's pretty..it's done.I do precook my sausage tho. Everything else is fine.
I do want one of those Roundboy fire brick oven tho. Can't justify the cost. I have made them on a pellet grill, charcoal, propane and IR and gas oven at 500º. They all come out the same. Hope that helps .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[deb415611]

Here is a link to a serious eats article,  it compares the two different thickness of baking steel and the lodge cast iron pizza pan.  lots of great info such as why you would want to bake your pizza fast

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2012/10/the-pizza-lab-baking-steel-lodge-cast-iron-pizza.html

[deb415611]

I put mine on a cold pan. I make pizzas at the campground and last time it was 15 pizzas. I just keep making them with no cooling in between. They told me I couldn't make pizzas on a charcoal grill. I go by the crust. If it's pretty..it's done.I do precook my sausage tho. Everything else is fine.
I do want one of those Roundboy fire brick oven tho. Can't justify the cost. I have made them on a pellet grill, charcoal, propane and IR and gas oven at 500º. They all come out the same. Hope that helps .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

LOL, sounds like you took that comment the same way I would have    as a  challenge

I have done pizza on my weber kettle

I have seen some great looking pizza come out of the roundboy,  I have my eye on a four grand mere oven from bread stone ovens.  Price is similar for base model.    On a pizza forum the owner of bread stone ovens offered to send a guy some adhesive to fix a brand new different type of wfo that had damage on the initial firing at no charge - that's customer service that can't be beat.   It's not in my near future though. 

[Pam Gould]

Good article. I was in IL last summer at an antique flea market and a guy there had one of the wood fired pizza ovens. Best pizza I ever ate. Thin crust with pepperoni and cheese. Total time was 3 minutes. He showed me with an IR thermometer that the deck was just under 700º. He had it on a trailer, mounted with his wood stored under it. He went from place to place to make pizzas and he made tons of them. I was impressed. He had 6 ppl making pizzas all the time, he was that busy. He made 3 at a time. What an operation. I was just walking around and saw this and I was all over it. He was very gracious about it I am such a tourist.  LOL  .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.