On 2005-08-19, Ellen > wrote:
> "Randall Nortman" > wrote in message
> nk.net...
>> [Crossposted to rec.food.equipment and rec.food.baking; followups
>> redirected to rec.food.equipment only.]
>>
>> Yes, I've searched newsgroup archives, yes I've read all the arguments
>> that unglazed quarry tiles are safe, and yes I've been baking directly
>> on them for years and I'm still alive. But the time has come for my
>> wife and I to see if we can pass our genes on to the next generation,
>> and so we're being intentionally paranoid about food safety issues.
>> From what I've read, the argument that they're safe seems to be that
>> there's no evidence that they're not safe, and nobody has died or
>> gotten sick or lost IQ points because of them (as far as we know), so
>> there are more important things to worry about: they're innocent until
>> proven guilty.
>
> You could put your breads on parchment paper and put that on the tiles or
> stones or other surface. I tend to do that so I don't have flour or semolina
> or cornmeal all over the bottom of the oven and on the heating elements.
> That gives you a barrier between the stones and the breads.
[...]

My understanding is that part of the function of baking stones, which
are somewhat porous, is to allow moisture to evaporate from the bottom
crust, resulting in a crisper crust. It seems to me that parchment
paper would not transmit much moisture. Not to mention all the wasted
parchment paper. (And I'm sure the pundits here have already guessed
that somebody as clearly psychotically paranoid about environmental
health as I am would also logically be a green-blooded tree-hugging
hybrid-driving birkenstock-wearing neo-hippie.)

Although, getting back on topic, I must admit that the idea is
appealing, if only because it would make the dough a lot easier to get
into the oven without deflating or deforming it.

Thanks for the constructive advice. Seems in short supply around
here.

Passive-aggressively yours,

--
Randall