On 2005-08-20, Vox Humana > wrote:
>
> "Will" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> The steel works great, cures like cast iron,
>> and, is indestructable. It is also easier than hauling a stone with
>> corn meal in or out of the oven all of the time.
>
> Do people really "haul ...[their] stone ....in or out of the oven all the
> time." I don't. It lives in my oven 24/7. Anyone else haul stone?

I don't want to bother to preheat the stones when I'm only going to
use the oven briefly. The thing I use my oven for most often is to
roast vegetables, which usually takes only about 10-30 minutes,
depending on the type of vegetable. With the stones in, it takes at
least 10 minutes just to preheat the oven. More importantly,
especially in the summer, it means more heat radiating out of the oven
for the next couple of hours. (Actually, does anybody know how the
thermal mass of a baking stone compares to that of a typical
residential oven?)

That said, I'm often lazy about it, and just preheat while I'm washing
and chopping the veggies anyway. If I had a big single-piece baking
stone instead of a few easily-handled 8" square tiles, I would be more
tempted to just leave it in there all the time. But Will's point is
still true: unless you use parchment or pans, you have to clean burnt
flour or cornmeal off the stones after you bake with them.

--
Randall