Reddit mentions of Old Stone Oven Rectangular Pizza Stone

Here you go. http://smile.amazon.com/Old-Stone-Oven-4467-14-Inch/dp/B0000E1FDA/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1425798820&sr=1-1&keywords=pizza+stone

Half the price and twice as useful. Just buy a damn pizza stone if you make your own pizza.

Edit: Check out the price zombie below, you can get this stone for cheap, or other pizza stones for a third the price as this stupid appliance. Pizza is really fucking easy to make. Making dough from scratch and freezing it works awesome.

This is the one I have and I love it.

Make your own. Very easy, much tastier, and won't make a mess in your oven.

Dough recipe: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html

Pizza stone: http://www.amazon.com/Old-Stone-Oven-14-Inch-16-Inch/dp/B0000E1FDA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1249390134&sr=8-1

Topping ideas: http://pizzaacasa.com/Pizza.html

It doesn't go boom when it goes on the floor (or the grill/broiler like some stones) . Also, it transfers heat more quickly, which is good for pizza, but not for croissant, cookies and bread. Also, you need to season it (like a cast iron pan), otherwise it'll rust.

Generally speaking, a good pizza stone (or steel) should have two qualities:

• rough surface (smooth one will trap steam)
  
• at least 1/2 thickness (1/4 for steel, although 3/8 is preferable)
  
  If you want the absolute best pizza, The Original Baking Steel 3/8 is the best choice (for ~110USD).
  
  But since you said affordable, you'll probably like this more (~40USD) - it doesn't transfer heat as quickly as some other stones, but the difference in crust quality won't be noticable, as long as you let it reheat for longer between the pies (about 7 minutes).
  
  But the slower transfer means that it's better for croissants etc, so it's more versatile.

Looks good! I would personally have let mine cook just a tad longer, but I like mine a little crispy. If making pizza is something you really enjoy, I'd suggest getting a pizza stone and a peel. Preheating your oven with the stone in there for a while lets you get the surface really hot, then you drop the pie on there with the peel, and that's how you can get a good crispy bottom. I dunno, that's how my Sicilian cousin taught me to make it. Also, get some basil!

I have this Link and it has been holding up great for two years. I haven't used the other brands mentioned in the post so I don't know how well it stands up.

Just a standard 2:1 bread flour/water ratio.

• I make 5 cups of flour
  
  
• Add a tps of salt.
  
  
• Add a tsp of yeast to the water(warm)
  
  
• Sometimes a tea spoon of olive oil in the dough.
  
  
• Run it in the kitchenaid on slow and finish kneading it by hand.
  
  
• Let it rise for ~hour (much longer if it's cold).
  
  
• Get the oven as hot as I can (mine 550)
  
  
• Slap it on the pizza stone (the difference a stone makes in the crust is unbelievable.) Link
  
  
• Take it off when it looks done/can't wait anymore.
  
  
• Wrap the dogs in the rest of the dough
  
  
• Throw some egg wash on there
  
  
• Put them on the stone when the pizza comes out.
  
  I'm still trying to get a better crust. It's pretty good but doesn't have that restaurant pizza taste. I'm thinking of trying 00 flour next time. I still have an issue of overcooking the toppings and undercooking the crust.

I've gone through a few of those round ones and got a rectangular Old Stone Oven one and it's lasted a few years now. It also fits a larger pizza. I bought it based off a cooks illustrated recommendation.

Okay, here we go...

Mandatory items:

• Food processor or stand mixer
  
  
• Baking scale that measures in grams and ounces
  
  
• Baking stone ^1
  
  
• Wood pizza peel ^2
  
  
• Aluminum pizza peel
  
  Notes:
  
  ^1 Most people will swear by a baking steel instead of a ceramic stone. If your budget allows it, a 1/4" thick steel is much better than a stone.
  
  ^2 I linked to a fancy one, but it really makes dismounting your raw pizza onto your hot stone/steel an easy task. There are cheaper wood peels that don't have the canvas conveyor.
  
  Recipes:
  
  For the dough, my favorite is Kenji's. I follow it to the T, weighing out each item in grams, and it's perfect. Honestly, I've only tried two other dough recipes, and the differences between all of them are minor, but Kenji's is the lightest and crispiest, but not too crispy.
  
  For the sauce, I've only tried a couple, but I love u/dopnyc's sauce. I tweak it a little. I use canned whole san marzanos, but only the tomatoes, I omit the juice they're in and the water in the recipe. I blend the whole tomatoes and then add all of the other ingredients. This makes enough for about four 12" pizzas. It will freeze well.
  
  For the cheese, the most important thing is you need whole milk, low-moisture mozz. Avoid pre-shredded anything, the added cellulose prevents proper melting. Avoid skim/part skim, and avoid fresh mozz (the stuff in water). It's kind of hard to find, but at my local grocery store, Kraft sells string cheese called Creamy that works great. It's delicious. However, it doesn't shred well, so I have to freeze it for about 15 min before grating. Now, I'm not saying that string cheese is the best option, it's just my only option at my local store. There are better options sold in a brick. Again, whole milk, low-moisture is the key.
  
  Toppings:
  
  Try to find a log of pepperoni and slice them off yourself. This will usually yield the coveted pepperoni cups once baked, each with their own personal portion of delicious pepperoni grease.
  
  I like Kenji's itallian pizza sausage recipe. It's very flavorful. You can make this with a food processor instead of a meat grinder/stand mixer.
  
  I gotta go for now, but let me know if you're still interested, I can write up some more on technique for dough balling and stretching and baking.

if he's planning on making food at home, you can buy him a pizza stone. there are a dozen makes and models - some better, some worse - most within your budget.

Replying to myself here, nevertheless hoping to get advice from you pizza experts:

Looking at the reviews of this (highly-rated) pizza stone: http://www.amazon.com/Old-Stone-Oven-4467-14-Inch/dp/B0000E1FDA/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

a lot of people mention that getting a 12" unglazed quarry stone tile from Home Depot ... FOR LESS THAN A DOLLAR (!!!!) gives almost the exact same results. That's the way to go then, isn't it?

Fellow Chicago resident here... The only time I eat deep dish is when tourist friends are in town. Going to whip up my own pizza on the grill tonight on this:

http://www.amazon.com/Old-Stone-Oven-4467-14-Inch/dp/B0000E1FDA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405449265&sr=8-1&keywords=pizza+stone

I wrote down the recipe by hand after checking it out from the library, so I can't verify what advise she gives, sorry. Personally, I use a baking stone preheated to 550 (hot as my oven gets, electric oven) for about an hour. I also put in a small stainless steel All-clad frying pan while preheating the stone.

After I put the proofed loaves on the stone, I immediately pour in a cup of boiling water into the pan to generate huge amounts of steam.

I use this one. Old Stone Oven 4467 14-Inch by 16-Inch Baking Stone https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000E1FDA/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_D.Idub0PX1M67

Okay, so the point of most of these things is to increase the rate at which heat can be transferred into your dough and get that pizza cooked as fast as possible. I think that for your standard thin-crust pizza, most people would agree that the faster you can cook the dough, the better it's going to be. Heat it really slowly (say, by taking it out of the Elio's box and baking it at 350 or whatever), and you get soggy, lame pizza. Heat it really quickly, and you get the ideal thin-crust pizza, with a nice airy crust and little charcoaly bits of deliciousness.

The problem is that really good restaurant pizza is cooked at insanely high temperatures (800 ºF, maybe? I don't know) in a wood- or coal-fired oven, which of course you can't do at home. But what you can do is build a reserve of heat in a baking stone or pizza steel, which can then conduct heat into the pizza and get it cooked much faster than you could otherwise. Baking steels retain the most heat and apparently work great, but I think they're a little unwieldy, especially at school. (I wouldn't bother with the regular, thin "pizza pans", perforated or otherwise—I've never read anything good about them.)

Personally, my device of choice is this pizza stone. It's $40 and works just fine. Another option that people will tell you is to go to Home Depot and try to find an "unglazed quarry tile" there. Worth a try if budget is a concern. Either way, they're not as heavy as the steel, so they're easier to store. You can get really good results if you heat them at the top rack at the highest your oven will do, then switch on the broiler (if you have a top-mounted broiler) to heat it even more for the last ten minutes of preheating. Kill the broiler just before adding your pizza.

EDIT: If you want to really make the best of whatever you buy, I suggest this recipe as your starting point. The key step is to let it rise in the fridge for up to five days, which allows all kinds of wonderful flavors to develop. If you don't have a food processor, you can just knead the ingredients by hand into a shaggy ball before putting it in the fridge. You'll have to experiment to get it just so (I cut down to about 1/3 of the yeast because it rose too quickly in my fridge, and also add a little less sugar and oil), but once you dial it in, it'll be better than all but the best pizzeria in town, I gar-on-tee.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000E1FDA

This is the stone I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000E1FDA

When I'm rolling the balls, I'm using the two hand method, tucking in the dough. For this last pizza I actively tried to seal the bottom by rolling the ball on the surface of my counter top. I didn't achieve a perfect seal though.

I usually preheat the oven for 40-50 minutes, until I see the thermometer read 500F. Today it was preheating for an hour and a half at least ( I got distracted kind of forgot I was supposed to be in the kitchen).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000E1FDA

If you can order it, or can find it around you, this one will not crack from spritzing. The ones you have to worry about cracking are the compressed sand stones. I had one of those break on me. This one will actually continue to get harder as you use it. I just leave it in the oven and forget about it.

Click Here this one is perfect for pizzas, breads and all things stone worthy. It's large, it's thick and it gets hot. Make sure you preheat the stone for at least 20 mins.

If you can afford a stainless steel plate get that instead. Otherwise this is the best option I've found.

FYI I use this stone I got an Amazon and I love it. I've only cooked with a steel a few times and find the stone does a better job of drawing the moisture out of the dough to crisp up the outside.

Thanks so much. Here is the link to the stone I used: pizza stone. I had no problems with the shipping--it was packed well.

I have a gas oven and have never had a problem with soggy dough. I wouldn't precook your dough unless you were using a grill. I use a pizza stone placed on the top rack. Contrary to popular belief, putting your store on the top rack creates a "mini-oven" since the top reflects heat back down onto your pizza. What kind of oven do you have? Is it a builders-grade type oven that will barely toast a piece of bread? You may have a problem regardless if that's the case...

This stone was rated #1 by Cooks Illustrated Magazine. It's the only stone that hasn't cracked. And god knows I've cracked a bunch.


http://www.amazon.com/Old-Stone-Oven-4467-14-Inch/dp/B0000E1FDA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343671339&sr=8-1&keywords=old+stone+oven+pizza+stone

good point on the stone. But $20 is not enough for a stone that will last. This is the stone you should get:
http://smile.amazon.com/Old-Stone-Oven-4467-14-Inch/dp/B0000E1FDA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1449795030&sr=8-4&keywords=pizza+stone

I have a 5+ year old one by Old Stone Oven that looks a bit different but here is the current one: https://www.amazon.com/Old-Stone-Oven-Rectangular-14-5-Inch/dp/B0000E1FDA

I had a few cheaper ones crack on me in my early pizza-making days, but this one has been a champ and is a lot thicker (which equals more heat retention).

Definitely recommend going with a rectangular one opposed to a circle.

These placed directly on a propane grill set to high ~ 500F. Preheat them for about 15-20 mins. Place homemade pizza directly on tiles and in about 5-10 mins you have an amazing restaurant quality pizza.