Professional pizza and traditional European bread ovens are often lined with stone or brick. This is so heat is stored up and redistributed evenly. The resulting blast of heat from the Old Stone Oven Baking Stone gives bread and pizza a nice chewy crust. The rustic French tarts called galettes are also well suited to a baking stone. To use the 14-inch stone, place it in a cold oven and preheat, to 500 degrees for pizza, or according to the recipe for bread or galettes. The stone is made of the same material that lines blast furnaces and kilns, so it can handle ultra-high temperatures. Wait until the baking stone is entirely cooled before attempting to clean it. Let it dry completely before using again. Some discoloration will occur over time; this is natural and will not affect baking. Using baking parchment may help delay that discoloration. Do not bake cookies, turnovers or other high-fat items on the stone; the stone would absorb the fat and proceed to produce smoke and bad odors. The stone comes with a flyer that contains detailed use and cleaning instructions, as well as recipes for bread, pizza dough, and two pizza toppings. --Garland Withers
