Pizza Stone / Oven Stone (tiles)

A pizza stone is normally a circular stone you can buy at most kitchen shops in the US, normally made out of earthenware or ceramics and is used to cook pizzas on inside your oven. These stones distribute the heat evenly which allows for even cooking. However, these stones can cost from $15 USD to over $40 USD for a small 12 inch piece. What actually works much better is going down to your local tile shop and picking up a few unglazed quarry tiles and then cutting them with a tile cutter to the size of your oven (just measure your oven and ask the tile people to cut for you.) This far more cheaper than buying a pizza stone and will have much better results. Most home ovens cannot reach the desired high temperature of a true pizza oven, by using the unglazed quarry tiles, your oven will actually go a few degrees hotter when set to its highest temperature.

You simply place the tiles directly on the bottom metal part of your oven (if you have a burner on the bottom then place it on the wire shelf on the lowest setting) and leave them there. There is no need to ever remove them again, they will not only give you a very crispy crust but will also help distribute the heat throughout your entire oven more evenly than before (most home ovens have cold spots.) These tiles will also keep the heat in your oven every time you open the door since they retain heat for a long time. For pizzas and bread you would simply put the food directly on the tiles with no pans. The tiles will draw the moisture away from the pizza crust and breads giving you a much sought after crispy texture. To clean up the tiles all you need to do is wipe it down with a damp cloth (do not use soaps of any kind as this will ruin the taste of the tiles) to remove the crumbs, the high temperature of the oven actually will burn off most waste and spills. I also put a piece of aluminum foil under the tiles and leave a little of it in front, this way when I wipe the tiles clean the crumbs will fall on the foil and I just need to bend it out a little and brush off the crumbs.