Soapstone as a pizza stone

[jbird759]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

This natural quarried stone is softer than most other naturally occurring minerals. Although it is soft, soapstone is a very dense and non-porous stone; denser than marble, slate, limestone and even granite. Because soapstone is impenetrable, it will not stain, as liquid will not permeate the surface.

A soapstone pizza stone has great thermal properties that mimic the effects of cooking a pizza in a masonry oven. In fact a soapstone pizza stone has significantly more thermal mass than metal or glass pans. soapstone maintains heat longer then any natural stone. The non-porous nature of soapstone results in a crisper crust.

Soapstone pizza stones have no taste. This makes them perfect for cooking.

Soapstone pizza stones are incredibly versatile and not only can be used in a oven but on a grill as well.

You can use your soapstone pizza stone to grill any kind of food from fresh vegetables to chicken.

Soapstone pizza stones can also be used to cook pastries and other pre-baked products.

Soapstone pizza stones can be used as a hot plate for keeping food fresh and warm on the dinner table.

Soapstone pizza stones retain cold as well as heat. You can put them in the freezer and use them as a dessert platter to keep fruit and desserts cool for extended periods of time.

Jay

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

Please do. BTW, our live in college student/baby sitter showed me an ad for a product called 'whiskey stones'. If you haven't heard of them, they are nothing but soapstone cubes with rounded edges that are placed in the freezer prior to pouring your favorite beverage over. Personally, I prefer the nuance of melting ice to mellow out my single malts, but will be giving this a try once I have some SS cutoffs after I cut my oven floor.

[SCChris]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

I don't think it would make much difference in my gas oven. I'm getting great spring and the oven temps don't dip much or for long. I have a cast iron fry pan on the bottom rack and dump a cup of hot water into this as well as mist the top of the loafs as they go in. I think I'm done with the thermal mass improvements in the gas oven. I'm really looking forward to cooking pizza side by side in the WFO. One pizza cooked on the SStone, and one on the brick deck. My expectation is that the SStone pizza will cook quicker and the crust will be crisper.

I'll let you know what happens.

Chris

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

Ah-hah! Given the heat-absorbing qualities of your SS, your gas oven management sounds pretty efficient. I think a next logical test could involve an upper tray full of firebrick (splits?), both walls and rear vertically covered with splits, and soapstone on the bottom rack. Think this would make a difference in oven spring?

[SCChris]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

John, I think you're going to love the soapstone surface. I'm still resolved to try a 20 by 16 piece in the WFO just to see where it takes me. I don't really know if I had the WFO fitted out in SStone if I'd really find it a problem with bread. When I do bread in the kitchen oven I preheat to the temp that I want and skip the pre-heat to a higher temp and turn down the oven thing. The Reinheart hearthbread recipe would want me to pre-heat the oven up to 500 and then turn down to 450 after putting in the dough. I'm finding that I'm happier preheating to 450 and not adjusting. The IR thermometer shows the stone spot on at 450 :-) and the oven doesn't swing much from this. I guess its the thermal mass regulating things.

A so-so oven made much better.

Chris

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

Chris,

Good to see you're expanding your knowledge of your SS, which should cross over to your WFO. I hope to do the same if I have enough 'leftovers'.

John

[SCChris]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

I ran the WFO for the third and ended up with extra dough, so I ramped up the inside oven to 500F and cooked off the rest of the dough as Calzones. Sorry no pictures.. The Calzones are easy to make up and freeze. Easy left-overs! I do love the soapstone surface in the oven. It's easy to clean and holds the heat up in the oven through the opening and closing of the door. The inside oven is a whole new tool in a really good way.

Chris

[SCChris]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

I like the 3cm size over the 2cm, I'm sure the 3cm stuff will float over support and still be tough enough to deal with a log thrown on the fire. Additionally, if the SStone is your floor directly over insulation I think you'll be happier with 50% more thermal mass than the 2cm will provide. I'd hate to have you put in 2cm and find it breaks up with normal wear and tear or not have the TMass that you want...

Pay attention to your 63% oven entry height.

Chris


PS I do like the way it works in my oven.. For additional Soapstone / Firebrick info look at "http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f8/soapstone-vs-firebrick-13110.html"

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

Good advice, Chris. I'm going to see the SS guy next week and would be thrilled to pick up some 'planks' roughly 50x12". I don't care if they don't match, but will try to get pieces without fissures, irregularities, etc. I wonder how 3/4" SS vs 1 1/4" will differ in performance. My floor insulation is 2" of Insblok 19 on top of 3 1/2" of 8:1 vermicrete so my plan is to place the SS directly on top of my 2 2/12" firebrick floor. $200 is what I expected to pay.

[SCChris]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

If you decide to go SStone in your WFO I recomend pieces rather than a single piece. This stuff is heavy! I'm wondering how long it'll take to heat the stone to temp.. Like I said, I'll keep you advised.. If I got serious about adding more insulation to the oven base, an easy way to do it would be to pull the firebrick floor, add an inch of rigid insulation to the inside of the dome and the entry and put SStone over the top. I think if you try you might be able to get all of your floor in SStone for $200 or so, if you piece it.

Chris

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

Nice work, Chris. Both your SS pieces can only enhance the functionality of your oven not to mention the appearance. My current plan is to procure enough soapstone (one piece?) to cover the floor of my oven prior to starting my build and incorporate a marble prep surface just like yours into the adjoining countertop. My biggest question now is whether to pay for a single floor piece or go with separate pieces in case one of them eventually cracks, separates, etc.

Thanks for the pics.
John

[SCChris]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

What I ended up with was 2 20" by 16" stones. I also included in the photos a 20" by 12.5 "sink cutout" of Marble, that I use as the work surface to stretch and fold the bread dough, $0. The Marble is a nice cold surface that helps to keep the dough temps down during the initual S&F work period before transfering it to the fridge.

Chris

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

Thanks for the info, Chris. How big did the two oven stones cover? Can you post a pic?
John

[SCChris]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

I found a place on on the south side of Ball road just West of College. He had a cutoff just right for 2 3cm oven stones. $50 total and cut to size.. I'll bake a batch of bread or two this weekend and report back. In the conversation with the folks at the shop, I was told that the darker more homogenious stones hold up better in ovens. It was explained that the lighter veining is talc and the darker stone is serpentine, because of the differences in expansion the vein will open up over time where a stone without veins will holdup much longer.. Makes sense to me.. The serpentine is much harder than the talc..

Chris

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Soapstone as a pizza stone

I believe it's been well-documented that granite chips and spalls when subjected to brick oven temps making it an unsuitable floor material. I would guess that a piece of granite subjected to normal gas-oven temps ($500F) would work fine for an indeterminate time.

Chris - In my search for soapstone cutoffs, I came across a local shop selling granite and marble remnants as well as standard slabs for countertop fabrication. (He had one piece of soapstone, too small to consider). He told me it was his son who was selling the $25 granite 'pizza stones' on Craigslist.