January 26, 2010 - 3:50pm
Pride before a fall
I can remember reading complacently about TFL members whose stones had cracked - while sympathetic I was sure it wouldn't happen to my well used stone. That was then. This morning I opened the oven planning to remove the stone while I proofed a sourdough and found it in two pieces! I have no idea when it happened, no accidental hitting it, no dropping of heavy objects onto it. The only thing I have done differently was to place it on the bottom rack to bake baguettes from the King Arthur recipe last week. I have to bake the sourdough in the morning so I will push the two pieces together and hope for the best. I also have a lot to learn about making baguettes... A.
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Just make sure the stone has not left any loose chips or chards when baking on it. You could put down some parchment paper just to be safe. You can also bake your baguettes on the backside of baking sheets in lieu of a stone.
Thanks, Joe, there weren't any loose chips, just one large and one small piece. I always start my sourdough on parchment and remove it when I take the bowl off. I may never try baguettes again but if I did maybe a wider stone would be a good idea, A.
Mine is in 3 right now. Still works. Can't afford to plunk down the fundage for a new one, so this one has to do. As long as it still bakes things, I'm fine with it. :)
must be the season! My gazillion years old one split this past weekend. Terry R
So sorry to hear about your stone, Terry. My stone was old too and didn't cost an arm and a leg way back when. Before that I had used large tiles which somehow vanished in one of my moves. It just occurred to me that I had been hearing strange pings coming from the kitchen but could never figure out the cause, and now I wonder if it was the stone getting ready to split. I just loaded a sourdough boule and hope that the crack won't cause any problems, A.
I had the same similar story with my first 3/8" thisk round pizza stone. Lasted for years, just using for occasionally baking pizzas.
About a month after I started "serious" breadbaking, it split in half. Within six months, I had a 6 piece puzzle.
I decided to save up and get a 5/8" thick stone from NY Bakers. This seems like a serious stone, though I know there are thicker, more expensive ones out there. After a couple months use so far, this one seems just perfect.
mrfrost, my stone is (or was) 5/16" thick and I seem to think it came from Bed, Bath and Beyond. No name on it and the back has slightly raised strips which look as though they are to strengthen it? Probably the frequent heating to 500* was more than it was designed to cope with. My family gave me a gift card for a pricey cooking store in town but I don't know that they sell stones. Good to hear you are happy with your new one, I may have to save up and go that route, A.
Yeah, that's probably about the thickness mine really was, and as you and I suspect, really can't be expected to last long with "heavy duty" baking.
The last time, I know I did absolutely nothing, but turned the oven on and set at 500 deg to preheat. After 15 min or so, I heard a faint "plink" from the oven. I went to check, but was pretty sure what it was. Sure enough...
About a month ago the same thing happened to mine. Opened the range door and it was just cracked. I hadn't used the oven in two days and no one in the house but me. Just cracked into two pieces, Ying and Yang break, literally looked like that shape.
Eli
I now use cheap 1/2" thick saltillo tiles from home depot. They're so cheap that I can keep spares in the garage in case of breakage....but they stand up to everything--even frequent cleaning cycles. I have 1 and 1/2 tiles that cover the entire rack.