Can we talk about preheating oven stones?

I used to just toss my baking steel in when I turned the oven on and called it good after 20 minutes. Then I got a cheap infrared thermometer last month and checked the surface temp after a full hour. It was still 40 degrees shy of where it should be. Now I give it a solid 75 minutes and my pizza crust actually bubbles right. Anyone else check their stone temp with a gun?

2 comments

2 Comments

robin_campbell3615d ago

Is an extra 15 minutes really going to make or break your crust?

lee_grant9714d ago

Yeah the extra time is huge. I started doing 75-90 minutes and it changed everything, especially for the bottom char. The stone just absorbs so much heat that the surface temp lies to you at first - like the middle is still cold even if the top reads right. That infrared gun is the only way to know for sure.