Question 1

Maybe a dumb question, but after this preheats to 550 in oven, how do you slide your prepared pizza onto it?

Accepted Answer

I form my unbaked crust onto a 12" USA brand metal non-stick pizza pan with ridges.  Into the oven on top of the hot steel for a few minutes till just set up,  Take out pan, brush top of crust with little olive oil if you wish and build the pizza with sauce, cheese, etc.  Then I let the pizza and crust slide off the pizza pan onto the stone to bake.  It doesn't stick because I pre-baked it and the pan is slick.  When finished, I do use a metal peel to remove the finished pizza. This always works for me with no mess, no hot fingers and no big peel to store or cornmeal to sweep up.

Question 2

Can anyone scientifially prove that the .375" or 1/2" would be better than the .25"? I can't find a reason to buy the thicker ones.

Accepted Answer

It's been a while since this question was asked. There were some reviews and they documented the results and here they are (from a well-known site for Pizza junkies):

Thickness	                Baking time
3/16 inch (4.8 mm)	6-8 minutes
1/4 inch (6.4 mm)	        5-7 minutes
3/8 inch (9.5 mm)	        4-6 minutes
1/2 inch (12.7 mm)	3-5 minutes

Another way to look at it now is that a half inch steel can cook two pizzas back to back in about the time it takes a 3/16 in steel to cook one pizza.

But we all know that the thinner steals require more time to heat up between pies.

If you going to cook one or two pies back to back, it seems like the research and user feedback points to 1/4 inch at a minimum.

Question 3

Instructions say you can leave it in the oven full time and it will act as a heat sink. Should I leave this in my oven? I can barely lift it.....

Accepted Answer

I don't. Unless you need steel stone's capability, you are wasting energy two ways - to heat up a significant metal mass and then, when you are done, cooling it. The fan in my oven runs longer if I leave the stone in it.

Question 4

Can this also be used on a barbeque?

Accepted Answer

I thought it would work well on my gas grill but I had issues - maybe it was my grill. I was cooking multiple pizzas so I'd cook one pizza, take it off, cook another, etc. The first pizza was great. But as I went on the steel couldn't get back up to temperature fast enough and it took longer and longer to get the pizzas done. For my setup my oven works better.

There was no problem with the steel on the grill - nothing physically went wrong and nothing was damaged. I just couldn't keep enough heat in the steel.

NerdChef Steel Stone - High-Performance Baking Surface for Pizza (.375" Thick - Pro)

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