On Thu, 24 Dec 2009 22:01:02 -0700, "gloria.p" >
wrote:

>Doug Freyburger wrote:
>> gloria.p wrote:
>>> They aren't that hard to find in the southwest. There's no
>>> guarantee that the clay they are made from is lead-free.
>>
>> In California there's no Porp 65 requirement to label items not related
>> to food preparation. Outside California there's no requirement to
>> include Prop 65 labels on anything.
>>
>> Tiles for flooring aren't food preparation items. Not that I have any
>> idea how much lead leaches out of a tile into the crust of a pizza.
>
>
>
>If in doubt I'd wrap the tile in heavy duty foil, maybe a couple
>of layers.
>
>gloria p

Then what's the point? Tiles/stones don't do anything to improve
baking in a home oven anyway, especially not when placed in a metal
pan... there is no way to turn a home oven (gas or electric) into a
real brick oven. A real brick oven relies on the flames licking the
bricks and with electric the elements are embedded inside the bricks,
nor does a home oven produce anywhere near the BTUs needed for
sufficient recovery rate... about all one accomplishes by placing
stones in their home oven is increase their fuel bill, quite possibly
ruining their oven, and display their ignornace... my GE Profile
stove's owner's manual displays a prominent warning (in red) that use
of pizza stones voids the warranty (home ovens are not designed to
operate at their extreme temperature range with anything that inhibits
convection and/or concentrates heat in any particular areas, this can
warp sheet metal and damage thermostats and other components).
Nowadays even commercial bakeries use perforated bakeware, they
realize that it produces far better results and with significantly
lower energy consumption.... the greater the air circulation,
especially at the bottom of breads, the better the results and at
lower temperatures... past a point higher baking temperature causes
top burning before the product is baked through... oven temperatures
above 450ºF burns pizza toppings and can easily damage home oven sheet
metal because the large area of a pizza stone impedes normal
convection. Most every pizzeria today uses pizza screens. Anyone who
owns a convection oven should definitely be using a pizza screen and
perforated bakeware for all breads. Use of pizza stones with
convection ovens is indicative of gross stupidity so severe that
smarter then a 5th grader would be no achievement, when in fact those
idiots aren't smarter than a 5 year old.

Imagine, folks paying good money for a modern stove and then being
suckered in to buying ancient Aztec cooking rocks. Perhaps solar
baking ain't far off, but in the future it won't need to be done
outdoors in a scorching desert clime.