Before I invented the Baking Steel, I spent over a decade working in the restaurant world. I studied culinary arts, managed kitchens, and cooked in some amazing restaurants my last stop was with Todd English at his Olives and Figs restaurants. I loved the energy of the kitchen, the creativity, the fire literally and metaphorically.
But over time, the reality of the restaurant business caught up with me. The margins were razor thin, and so many things were out of our control: food spoilage, weather, staffing. As much as I loved food, I needed something more stable.
That's when I joined my family's business, Stoughton Steel Company, founded by my father about 50 years ago. The company makes reversible stabilizer pads for backhoes—rugged, industrial stuff. I spent over 15 years there, helping grow the company alongside my dad and brother.
It was a major shift but steel doesn’t spoil, and Caterpillar always paid their invoices. My dad had built a reputation in the industry not just for quality, but for designing smart, durable products that served world-class customers. He knew what he was doing. Watching that gave me a foundation not just in materials, but in business. And I started to see an opportunity to bring that legacy into something new, to apply what I’d learned at a different kind of table.
In 2008–2009, the economy tanked. Our business was hit hard, we dropped from $8 million to $3 million in revenue. Around the same time, my son Cooper (who was 4 at the time) started asking me where I went every day. I told him, "work."
But that word stuck with me. I was going to work, but I wasn't living with passion at work. And how can i teach my son passion when i wasn't even living with it...
I started doing yoga. Reading more. Journaling every day. One of the books that really hit me was The Artist's Way. I began reflecting on what I really wanted.
Then one Friday night in 2011, everything changed.
I was sitting at my desk and read an article in the Wall Street Journal about the launch of the book Modernist Cuisine. The author asked Nathan Myhrvold questions about pizza—and Myhrvold casually mentioned that steel is better than a pizza stone for baking.
It hit me like a baseball bat. I had access to a warehouse full of steel. I ran out to the shop that night, grabbed a piece, and brought it home.
That Sunday, I made a pizza on steel for the first time. The crust was crispy, the bake time was down to 7 minutes, and I was blown away.
I knew instantly we could make this product. We already had the equipment at Stoughton Steel. But I shelved the idea for nearly a year we were too busy, and it felt too far outside our core business.
But I couldn't shake it.
Eventually, with help from our team, I started cutting prototypes and sending them to friends. And the feedback was electric: "This changes everything."
So in 2012, I took a leap and launched the Baking Steel on Kickstarter.
My goal was modest raise $3,000 and maybe sell 100 units. I just wanted to validate the idea and maybe start a side hustle.
We hit our goal in a day.
The community showed up. The product worked. The vision came alive. And Baking Steel officially launched.
To this day, I'm still at the helm of Baking Steel. We've grown, evolved, and launched new products, but the mission is the same: we are obsessed with helping people make better pizza at home.
We use the highest quality American steel. We ship from our own facility. And we're proud to be the original and still the best—baking steel in the world.
Got questions? Want to bake with us? Let's go.
👉 info@bakingsteel.com
Written by: Andris Lagsdin, founder and inventor of the Baking Steel.
