Making delicious pizza at home doesn’t necessarily require a pizza stone. While pizza stones are great for achieving a crispy crust, they aren’t the only option. In fact, you might already have several alternatives in your kitchen that can produce equally impressive results.
This article explores five readily available alternatives to a pizza stone, each with its own unique advantages:
1. Inverted Baking Sheet:
This is Kitchn’s top pick for a pizza stone alternative, primarily because everyone has a baking sheet and it works remarkably well. Simply preheat your oven with a rimmed baking sheet placed upside down on the lowest rack. When it’s time to bake your pizza, slide it directly onto the hot baking sheet. The inverted surface provides enough heat to achieve a crispy crust, and it’s much easier to maneuver than a baking sheet placed right-side up.
2. Cast Iron Pan:
Cast iron skillets are incredibly versatile, and using them for pizza is no exception. You can either preheat a large cast iron skillet upside down in the oven, similar to the baking sheet method, or cook your pizza directly on the stovetop in the skillet. Both methods produce a crispy crust, with the stovetop option offering a faster cooking time.
3. Hot Grill:
For those who love a smoky, charred-crust pizza, grilling is an excellent alternative. Both charcoal and gas grills can reach temperatures exceeding most ovens, resulting in a perfectly cooked pizza in minutes. This is especially convenient for feeding a crowd.
4. Pizza Pans:
If you’re looking for a dedicated pizza-baking tool, consider investing in a pizza pan. These pans are typically made of heavy-duty aluminum with air vents or ridges to allow for airflow under the crust, ensuring a crispy texture. They are relatively inexpensive, easy to store, and readily available at most kitchenware stores.
5. Baking Steel:
This option might not be as readily available as the others, but it’s a personal favorite for many pizza enthusiasts. Baking steels are heavy-duty pieces of steel designed for high-temperature baking. Their larger surface area allows for baking multiple pizzas simultaneously, and they are virtually indestructible. Additionally, they offer superior heat retention compared to pizza stones.
Choosing the Right Alternative:
The best alternative for you depends on your individual needs and preferences. Consider the following factors when making your choice:
- Availability: Do you already have the tool in your kitchen, or do you need to purchase it?
- Ease of use: Some methods, like using a baking sheet, are incredibly simple, while others might require a bit more practice.
- Cooking time: If you’re short on time, grilling or using a cast iron skillet on the stovetop might be the best option.
- Desired crust: Each method produces a slightly different crust texture. Choose the one that best suits your taste.
Tips for Success:
No matter which alternative you choose, here are some general tips for achieving a delicious pizza at home:
- Use high-quality ingredients: Fresh, flavorful ingredients will make a significant difference in the overall taste of your pizza.
- Preheat your oven or grill thoroughly: This ensures an even cook and a crispy crust.
- Don’t overload your pizza: Too many toppings can make the crust soggy.
- Cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly: This indicates that the pizza is done.
Making delicious pizza at home doesn’t require a pizza stone. With these readily available alternatives, you can easily achieve a crispy crust and satisfy your pizza cravings without breaking the bank. So, experiment and find the method that works best for you!
I created the video (below) to answer a common question I get: is using a pizza stone necessary when making pizzas and breads? The short answer is no, but let me explain further. Using a preheated stone to bake pizzas and artisan style breads serves the dual purpose of providing direct, accurate heat to the bottom of the dough and allowing it to rise again in the oven before a crust forms, thereby preventing the dough from expanding further. You might be thinking, “Well, my oven is hot, so why do I need the stone for heat?” Well, that’s because a household oven loses a lot of heat as soon as the door is opened. Furthermore, if your bread is on a pan, it will take longer for the heat to reach the bottom of the loaf because of the metal. The dough is developing a crust during this time, which is stopping it from rising any higher. Lean (low fat) yeast doughs, such as french bread, have crusts that harden quickly in the oven. If the dough doesn’t have time to “spring” during the early baking stage, the bread may turn out to be dense. (Steam also helps. For more information on that topic, view my recipe and video on how to make french bread.) When bread or pizza dough is placed directly on a heated surface, it receives instantaneous heat, allowing it to rise before a crust forms. This is less important with pizza because the dough is typically covered in toppings that keep it moist and allow for oven spring. But the stone’s direct heat will help your pizza taste even better. (I also like to bake my pizzas in a sheet pan coated with olive oil; that is explained here.) ) See my pizza dough video and recipe.
As you can see from the final goods, I demonstrate a few techniques in the video that resemble baking on a stone and yield good results. This is not to say that you shouldn’t purchase a stone—at least not if mine wasn’t too pricey. They do endure longer and retain heat in the oven more effectively than my other methods. Enjoy the video, and I hope you find some helpful suggestions, even though I own two baking stones. I also enjoy experimenting with other methods, especially if I need to bake or teach somewhere that would require me to drag along my own stone! This video has closed captioning.
Just one more thing about the pizza stone: it takes a while for it to heat up enough. My two varieties of pizza stones require 30 to 45 minutes of preheating before they are hot enough to bake on. Just because the oven temperature is at the proper level doesn’t mean that the stone is at the appropriate The oven thermometer indicates that the stone is heating more slowly than the oven’s air. In order to preheat the stone a little faster, I frequently preheat my oven to a higher temperature before lowering it to the appropriate setting when baking my hearth-style breads and pizzas. The reason I bring this up here is that all of the stone substitutes you see in my video/slideshow below preheat far more quickly than the pizza stone. In other words, the baking surface is ready to bake when the oven is. But there are actually two more benefits to using a pizza stone: it doesn’t need to be cleaned after each use. With some of my alternative methods, that’s not the case.
Does travertine qualify as a quarry tile (I’m not sure what the precise definition of quarry tile is other than material that is excavated out of a quarry) and can it be used as a baking stone? Although I can’t find anything indicating that it will withstand baking at high temperatures, it is widely used in the construction of large objects. without breaking.
How to Make Pizza without a Pizza Stone | Homemade Pizza
FAQ
What can be used as a baking stone?
Do I really need a baking stone?
How do you make pizza crust crispy without a pizza stone?
What makes a good baking stone?
Why do you need a baking stone?
A baking stone is an excellent tool when baking bread or pizza at home. Baking on a stone surface will generate high heat spread evenly for a perfect bake. The stone surface reduces the number of times you need to move the bread around. As it happens, most ovens, especially home ovens are not evenly heated.
Is baking soda bad for kidney stones?
Sodium bicarbonate, the main ingredient in baking powder, alkalizes urine, thereby preventing urinary tract stones. However, since this leads to excessive sodium intake, citric acid preparations are often used in recent years.
What is a good alternative to a pizza stone?
1. Inverted Baking Sheet This is Kitchn’s number-one favorite alternative to a pizza stone because we all have a baking sheet and it works well. Take a rimmed baking sheet and invert it on the lowest shelf of your oven before you preheat the oven. Then you can easily slide the pizza onto the baking sheet when it’s time to bake.
Can You bake pizza without a pizza stone?
This is also a great option if you don’t have a pizza stone (and you can get by without a pizza paddle either – read below!) 1) Ok, so in this case, instead of a pizza stone, flip a rimmed baking sheet upside down and preheat it for about 30 minutes at 475 degrees before baking your pizza. 2) Get that pizza paddle ready.