On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 23:38:32 -0500, "Dee Randall"
<deedoveyatshenteldotnet> wrote:

>
>"Kenneth" > wrote in message
.. .
>> On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 17:05:20 -0700, Eric Jorgensen
>> > wrote:
>>
>>>On 6 Jan 2005 15:07:13 -0800
>>>"Peter" > wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi
>>>>
>>>> I'm shopping around for a good baking stone for making bread. I'v found
>>>> several types, made from ceramics, marble, limestone, granite; someone
>>>> even suggested cast iron
>>>>
>>>> What's your experience from these types?
>>>
>>>
>>> www.bakingstone.com sells what is supposed to be the elite stone. I
>>>don't have one yet. More of a concrete than any of the above.
>>
>> Hello again,
>>
>> "Supposed" by whom...? <g>
>>
>> At only 3/4" thick they can't possibly have sufficient mass
>> to really do the job.
>>
>> For years, I used a piece of soapstone that fit the bottom
>> of my oven. The stone was 2" thick, and weighed about 80
>> pounds. It took more than an hour to bring it up to baking
>> temperature.
>>
>> The whole idea of a baking stone is to increase the heated
>> mass. Then, when the (relatively) cool dough is put in the
>> oven, the mass of heated material radiates its heat to the
>> dough. That makes for better pizza, bread crusts, etc.
>>
>> Home ovens are (typically) little more than heated sheet
>> metal boxes. When the dough goes in, the ovens cool
>> significantly.
>>
>> That's the reason that commercial bakers' ovens are so
>> massive. When we designed our newly built home about five
>> years ago, I decided to put in a Bongard M2FE. (It's a
>> French deck oven.) It weighs about 1200 pounds...
>>
>> To get a result with the FibraMent similar to my soapstone,
>> one would have to use 'em two at a time, stacked.
>>
>> Of course, the manufacturers know more about this than I,
>> but they are constrained by the desire to market these
>> things. They know that if they made them heavy enough to do
>> the job well, customers would be complaining "that it took
>> over an hour to get my oven hot enough to bake."
>>
>> Also, the FibraMent stones are rather costly. My slab of
>> soapstone cost me only a few bucks...
>
>I don't think I have the FibraMent stone, but I'm using one (abt 14x14x3/4")
>that I've had for probably 18 years. But I always (well - almost always!)
>heat it for an hour, sometimes 45 minutes, and sometimes over and hour if
>I'm late on bread rising.
>
>You say,
>"The whole idea of a baking stone is to increase the heated
>> mass.."
>Regarding the above sentence, do you think that it is a waste of electricity
>to heat a stone (even a FibraMent stone) for an hour?
>
>Thanks,
>Dee
>

Hi Dee,

Yes... Probably...

But there is an easy (and inexpensive) way to know.

You could use a "contact" thermometer of the sort that is
sold to measure the temperature of woodstoves. This is just
a flat disk with a bi-metallic strip coiled in the center.

I had one of those sitting on the corner of my baking stone
for years. When it came up to the desired temperature, I was
ready to bake.

HTH,

--
Kenneth

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