Pizza stones

[infomama]

I have devised a very simple and delicious pizza recipe but I have a question for those who use a pizza stone. I usually make the pizza on a baking sheet brushed with olive oil and it comes out just fine but I heard to many wonderful things about pizza stones (and I just bought the 5 minute artisan bread book) that I bought one. Well my first try with the stone didn't go so well...the pizza stuck to the stone and it didn't cook thru as well. read that I should try to bake the pizza on parchment (I don't have a peel and it was a nightmare transferring it from the board to the stone) but I am wondering...should I up the temperature when using a stone? I usually bake my pizza at around 425 when using the baking sheet.
TIA!

[AngelaS]

Pizza stones need seasoned to make them non stick. You need to cook some good greasy things on them first so that less greasy stuff doesn't stick.

If you want a crisp crust pizza, you need to put the stone in the oven and let it preheat. :)

[Jen841]

Heat up the stone so you put the crust on it at the desired temp. Also, use some cornmeal to coat the stone.

I keep my stone in the oven 24x7x365. It does not look pretty, but it is loved.

[infomama]

I am preheating the stone but it still stuck in places. What temp do you bake your pizza at?

[maylips]

You can lightly grease it with oil or spray for awhile, although I'd recommend cooking something like crescent rolls laid out as the "pizza base" for a sweet dessert one night to season it better than just spraying would.

[jillc]

we preheat stone in a 450 oven for about an hour before baking the pizza.

we make the pizza on a piece of parchment paper & use a peel to transfer parchment & pizza to the pizza stone in the 450 deg oven. it takes about 10 min to cook.

we're newbies to the pizza stone, but we've done this about a dozen times now & are thrilled with the results. :)

[ltmommy]

That's a really good idea about the parchment! My problem is that I make the pizza either on a peel or on a baking sheet, but no matter how much flour or cornmeal I use, it always ends up sticking to whatever I have made it on, and it is impossible to even get it into the oven.

I actually have a Mario Batali pizza pan, which gives a lot of the crispness that a stone does, but it is much easier to remove from the oven (it has handles). But I end up not using it much because of the sticking issue.

[elephantmeg]

yeah, bake greasy stuff on it first-I did several rounds of crescent rolls. And then it will be perfect!

[citymama]

Agree with the preheating and the seasoning suggestions. Another essential tip, IME: a fine dusting of wheat flour and sprinkling of cornmeal before putting the dough on the pizza stone. The cornmeal really really helps. Also, we use a spatula to separate the dough from the stone after baking, before slicing the pie into individual pieces.