Dennis
I've been on a trek to perfect pizza Napoletana for about 15 years. My best results to date were had using an add-on to my Weber charcoal grill. However, this method was labor intensive and required a lot of hand holding. I settled for my 550 F oven and a nice thick stone for the last 5 years or so. No real charring, but better pizza than 99% of the stuff out there. Enter the Baking Steel...
I fell for the write up in the March 2022 edition of Food & Wine talking about pizza in general. I ignored the advice on dough and sauce but was intrigued by the discussion about the Baking Steel. After about 5 minutes of reading I knew I had to try this thing out. Oh boy, this is a game changer. In my 550 F oven, I get results I never dreamed of. Spectacular leoparding, perfect char, all in about 6 minutes. I'm giving away my pizza stone tomorrow. I never thought authentic pizza Napoletana could be this easy. Sorry I don't have any photos, the pie was eaten too quickly.
The pros are many: fast recovery between pies, basically indestructible, easy to take care of, perfect results, no fuss.
The cons are few: it's heavy (who cares, right?).
Some lessons learned: 500 F is not hot enough. Most modern ovens go to 550 F and this makes a huge difference. No need to utilize the broiler or anything, just crank the oven, give it a good hour to heat up and off you go. Use a dough recipe a bit on the wet side - the pie will be easier to shape and the moisture stands up the heat better and yields better results. Care for the steel like you would any cast iron pan.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Baking Steel! This was the missing ingredient in my pizza quest. I will never go back to stone again. I cannot recommend this product highly enough.
