Features:

  • Steel is the preferred material for a baking plate - it holds and conducts heat better than stone
  • Ideal for home made or frozen pizza – crispy crust every time
  • Use with a pizza stone on rack above for true pizza oven results from your own kitchen
  • Use to bake breads, pastries, assorted baked treats
  • Durable steel is easy to clean and will not stain like a baking stone
Thank you pizzacraft for the cheap/effective steel!

When I got the steel it looked fine but I still wanted to give it my own coat since I'm expecting them to use a cheap oil at this price. Brushed this steel down with some water and salt then dried it off immediately and started coating it with grape seed oil. Baked @ 400 for about 30-45 min then bumped it up to 450 for an hour. As you can see the bottoms of my sourdough loaves are nice and crisp, I can knock on them with a nice hollow sound. This is thick enough and I've not noticed a bit of warping. The discolorations you see in my picture there are from excess flour and cornmeal I've gotten on the steel, this thing is AWESOME! No more broken stones =P

Low cost and perfect performance.

I use this steel at least once a week to make pizza (using Alton Brown's quick aka grilled pizza dough recipe) and it turns out the best home pizza ever. My kids complain when we order pizza now because it won't be as good. Generally I leave this in the bottom rack of the oven all the time and it even helps even the temp of my oven for non pizza cooking. Fits perfectly on a normal oven rack.

Beautiful Pizzas, But One Flaw

It’s thinner than the more expensive pizza steels, but it does the job. Since I received it, I’ve made about 4 pizzas, and have noticed one thing. When I make pizzas, my dough makes 2, so when I throw the pizzas in the oven one at a time, the second pizza is always crispier than the first. This may just be because I’m not letting it heat up enough (40 min at 550°F does seem like enough time, though) and the steel is just hotter so it cooks pizza #2 better since the steel has been in longer, but considering heat transfer, I would think that the initial pizza would cook a lot faster and crisp up better since there’s no heat being transferred at first except the heat circulating in the oven. Seems odd to me, but either way, the pizzas I have made look absolutely gorgeous and like something you’d pay $30 for at a pretentious New York restaurant.

Finally nailed it

Granted it could easily have been largely user-error in not heating it long enough before cooking or something like that, but I never had much success using a pizza stone, not to mention that the one I had was sand colored, and thus quickly became stained and unappealing to look at. Had even less success cooking homemade pizza directly on the oven racks, to the point that I had pretty much stopped trying. Then I just happened across steel baking plates here, and this one was cheap enough that I figured I'd give it a try. As opposed to their suggested top rack and broiler method, I decided to try bottom rack (so I can just leave it there) and convection cooking. The result was easily the best I've had, with the crust beautifully browned on the bottom and cooked through perfectly. Haven't had it long enough or used it enough to speak to durability, rust, warping, etc., but thus far am thrilled with the difference this makes and will definitely be working homemade pizzas back into the cooking rotation now!

Good product.

I bought this as a replacement for my pizza stone. If properly preheated (usually 15-20 minutes) it makes a very crispy crust and cooks a pizza with toppings in less than 10 minutes perfectly. I so far have only used it to make pizza, but plan to use it to bake bread or rolls also. It is easy to clean and store. Definitely an improvement over the pizza stone.

Updated Review to Just Eh!

Expensive piece of metal. It does rust so you have to make sure it's dried and oiled just like cast iron. I used this to bake bread as directed and my loaves burned on the bottom. I baked bread using clay tiles at the same temp and no burning at all. I'll update this review if things improve but I don't expect they will. Updated 10-12-15 I'm happy to report that things did improve with a few minor adjustments with temperature and using a pizza screen. I made two pizzas. I preheated the oven with the baking steel to 450. I put the screen in the oven about 5 minutes before placing the pizza on it. It baked the pizza for about 10 minutes. The crust was not as crisp as I would have liked but if I baked it any longer, the toppings would cook too much for my taste. The second pizza was placed directly on the baking steel and took about the same amount of time to cook. The crust was crisper without the screen. I also baked sour dough bread. I preheated the oven and steel to 400 instead of 450 this time. I baked the bread for approx 20 minutes and then finished it on the pizza screen to avoid burning like last time. They turned out perfect. I probably didn't need the screen due to decreasing the oven but used it just to be safe. I was very pleased with the results this time. The baking steel fits very well in my oven allowing me to bake 3 loaves or baguettes at a time. One thing I would add is that for me personally, I find it easier to place the pizza on a square surface than a round one so I would love to see a pizza screen that fit on the baking steel. There is a bit of skill involved in sliding a pizza off the peel and trying to get your round pizza on a round screen that's about the same size can be tricky. Wooden peels are better than metal peels, and wooden peels with a straight edge rather than a curved edge are also easier to maneuver. Flour burns so it's best to use semolina flour or cornmeal on your pizza peel. Another update 10-28-15 Just saw a baking steel on the King Arthur website for $124.95. It is16 X 14 by 1/4 inch thick. The Pizzacraft baking steel is only 1/8th inch thick not to mention less than 1/2 the price. Some may think thicker is better but the thicker it is the longer it takes to heat. So the Pizzacraft baking steel wins! I've been making pizza for many years and I've tried nearly everything. That said, I think the steel is a great addition in my kitchen and I will be using it often. I hope my update is helpful.

I finally got the crusty bread I longed for

This is GREAT!!! I just leave it in the oven all the time, this is the thing that allows me to use my home oven more like a bakery deck oven. This flat of dense unwarping metal in concert with a spray bottle of filtered water has been the best upgrade to my bread game. It's big enough that it fills nearly the entire rack of my standard oven, and works great with or without pans. I put loaf pans directly on the steel and get nice quick crust browning inside, I also place naked boule right on the metal with no issues. I've been using it for 3 months now, in a very moist/humid oven, and there is no sign of rust, warping, or any discoloration or damage. I've not even had to clean it as it is slowly developing a black finish like my cast iron. Definitely worth the money, and quickly delivered!

This steel is awesome

I wouldn't swap this for a larger steel. This is lighter, cheaper, and does the job. I have a bottom broiler so I put this on the highest rack in the oven taking advantage of the oven top radiation to brown the top of the pizza crust. I have a great New York pizza crust recipe, a self made pizza cheese blend, along with a great sauce and have produced professional quality pizzas. No need to buy out anymore. It's already paid for itself twice over. Definite improvement over stone.

Need a 6th Star...

I honestly don't get the handful of negative reviews about this item. This thing makes the best pizza I've ever made at home and frankly, it if was any thicker it would be too much hassle to use because of the extra weight and the extraordinarily small amount of fault tolerance that exists with the extra heat passed on by the thicker steel. You can walk away from a pizza on this steel and not have a fire in your oven when you get back to the kitchen. As it stands, this steel is the best price, most manageable weight, and offers incredible results that are identical to heavier steels if you just wait a minute. That's all it takes, just a small amount of patience and you can char your crust as much as you'd like. Also, the manufacturer recommends using the broiler or a pizza stone above the pizza for top down heat, but I have a convection oven and using the convection setting blows super hot air across the top of the pizza which doesn't generate the smoke that grease pops hitting the stone or the broiler does and you still get that amazing browning on the cheese and on toppings like bacon or pineapple.

HOW TO AVOID RUST!!

great steel if you like thin and crispy crust. Alot of people on here complain of rust... It's bare naked steel people. If you don't season it, it'll rust. Just clean it with warm water and soap when you get it. Towel it dry. apply high smoke point oil (flax seed, canola) using a paper towel. Thin layer. place in an oven set at 400F, for an hour. at the end of the hour, just turn the oven off, and leave the steel in there. wait for the oven and steel to come pack to room temp on their own, best to leave it over night. now your steel is seasoned. go ahead and bake with it. Can clean off with soap and water every now and then, just make sure to towel it off rather than air dry. Re-season when you see the coating coming off or every year by scrubbing with hot water and soap.

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