Long before metal oven racks were invented, many people would place things they wanted to bake onto stones to keep them from burning in ovens or even directly on heat. Traditional recipes for dishes like Native American flat bread employed a thick heavy stone onto which corn was spread. This was often set directly over a low fire to produce a tortilla like product that was a staple of certain Native American tribes. Today the baking stone is associated most with baking pizza, but there are actually many applications for its use in baking.

Typical baking stones can be made of a variety of materials, and tend to be either round or rectangular in shape. Clay stone are popular but some people prefer marble. Some baking stones are glazed and others are not, so there’s a great deal of choice on the market. A few companies make baking stone cookie sheets, muffin tins, and others to widen the applications possible for stone bakeware.

Some people suggest that heading to your local kitchen supply store to purchase a baking stone is a waste of time and instead they purchase tiles from kitchen or gardening stores. The one disadvantage to this method is that most tiles manufactured for home or garden are not rated for safety in cooking. They may contain high amounts of lead and you would need to test them for presence of lead prior to using them to cook.

The baking stone method of cooking tends to produce more desirable qualities especially in the production of pizza or bread. Bottom crusts are light and crunchy because the stone absorbs more moisture than does a cookie sheet. The baking stone is also praised for its ability to evenly heat the crust and lessen chances that a pizza or other bread will burn. There are differing opinions on whether you should construct a pizza on the stone and then transfer it to the oven, or place a prepared pizza directly on a heated stone in the oven. For the most even heating and quicker cooking the second method tends to be most effective.

Artisan bakers use commercial sized baking stones, and sometimes stone ovens in the preparation of bread. You can frequently duplicate these results at home with baking stone use. Many cooks advocate substituting stones for just about anything you can imagine putting in an oven, but you should think carefully before you begin baking everything on stone.

First, if you’re thinking of substituting a baking stone for a cookie sheet, unless you buy a stone cookie sheet, you lose that important lip that helps keep things from running off a flat surface into your oven. While cookies on large enough baking stones may not pose a problem, other foods that have a tendency to run, including pizza, might cause you a lot of extra oven cleaning work. When you want to use stones in a variety of applications, consider buying cooking sheet styles with the lip present, instead of the round or rectangular flat stone.

A few people also have trouble cleaning baking stones, especially those that are not glazed. You can avoid cleaning problems by using non-stick spray on the stone, and by regularly seasoning the stone with oil. Unglazed stones should not be washed with soap, since most will absorb some of the soap flavor. Instead use warm water, and try to work off any stuck pieces of food with a spatula, or dull knife.