October 9, 2007 - 1:22pm
Surely a simple stone question
I was just given a new baking stone actually I am not even sure it fits my oven yet. My question is this do baking stones need to be "seasoned" in any way do you need to do something or can you just start baking with them?. Using a stone is very new to me as I have been using tiles for all these years.
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I'd rinse it off just so any contaminents from the box are gone (dust, etc) and let it dry overnight. I've never had to "season" the stone, but I would recommend using parchment paper under your loaves for easy loading and unloading, and especially if you are working with cheese on your loaves.
Overall baking stones are fun, although I only use mine once in a great while. Don't forget a peel, which is pretty cheap at Bed Bath and Beyond if you want to go the budget route.
Well I use tiles so I wil use the stone alot just never having had a "real" stone I did not know if there was a procedure for a new one. So now I have a new question the person who gave me this stone got it with an oven she bought not being a baker she though she would never use it so she gave it to me. One problem I have now is the stone (actually it is in 2 pieces) does not quite fit in my oven. All I would have to do to make it perfect would be to cut about 6" off of one end. I have a tile saw so this operation would not be a problem technically but I now wonder if the stone is sealed or something and if I was to cut it it might cause some kind of problem anyone???.
I am pretty sure it is just a machined chunk of rock.