Pizza on a Baking Steel
After a year of our readers recommending the Baking Steel, I’ve finally given it a try. It is a little surprizing that this hadn’t happened earlier, since I have every other baking surface ever created. As you know, if you read my review of baking stones, I love my Lodge cast iron baking “stone,” but it isn’t perfect. The round shape makes it a bit hard to make baguettes and the lip around the edge makes it tough to clean. The handles on the Lodge are convenient for getting it in and out of the oven, but it means I can’t lay a baking sheet on top of it, so I have to take it out of the oven before baking anything on a baking sheet. None of those things prevented me from using it constantly, until I got the Baking Steel. The shape of the steel is more conducive to baking beyond just pizza and there is no lip or handles to work around. Just like the cast iron, the Baking Steel is virtually indestructible, heats up a bit quicker and conducts heat really well. In fact, I think the steel is the best heat conductor of any of my “stones.” The Baking Steel is a bit more expensive than my other stones. Is it worth it? For me, yes. The shape and heating properties make it worth the extra money, and I’ll use it daily and so it’s worth the investment. The fact that I don’t have to worry about it ever breaking (even on the grill) is a comfort as well.
The dimensions of the baking steel 14×16 inches.
If you’d like a chance to win a Baking Steel with carrying case and a copy of our book, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day please leave a comment below about your favorite pizza. (The package is only available to be shipped in the USA and subject to all our regular contest rules.)This giveaway is over!
I made a breakfast pizza with prosciutto, cherry tomatoes, sautéed kale, soft goat cheese and fresh thyme, baked on our olive oil dough with an egg cracked on top.
I rolled this one out a little thicker so that the crust would be nice and puffy.
This is our traditional Margherita pizza with our homemade tomato sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil.
Happy baking!
The good folks at Baking Steel sent this product for me to test and give away, but the opinions are all me!
I make a focaccia-style crust baked a bit prior to tossing with homemade spicy venison sausage; peppers, onions, grape tomatoes-halved…pressed-garlic int he homemade tomatoe and olive oil sauce…atop we sprinkle about 2 pounds of whole-milk mozzarella cheese. It bakes in a convection oven at 350 for almost a n hour…our fav! I need this ‘steel’! The stone is def not as functional as the b steel!!!
I love chicken with ranch and grilled vegetables!
I prefer a thin crust veggie pizza. A few years ago my daughter and I made a Thanksgiving pizza consisting of turkey and sweet potatoes. .I don’t remember if we added cheese and pizza sauce. After it cooked we spread cranberry sauce on top. It was surprisingly good.
I love Margherita Pizza…just never quite get the crust right at home. This pan might help!
My favorite pizza to make is a heavy cheese and homegrown tomato pizza. Yum! Wanting to make one right now!
I Love Baking Steel Pizza!! and the best is with a chunky tomato sauce and a four cheese blend. Then add on the sausage and pepperoni.
Pepperoni and mushroom!
The baking steel looks AWESOME, and is probably not as heavy as the Lodge cast iron “stone”? Love to make homemade pizza with my grandson. Of course, his favorite is simply pizza sauce and pepperoni, so we have half pepperoni and half with all the leftover meats and veggies from the fridge. 🙂
During summer we have pizza, about once a week. (It’s a quick and easy happy belly kind of dinner). I usually use the “master recipe”, roll it as thin as possible and top with whatever is in the ‘fridge.
Sometimes, the simple Margherita is best, but I like to go a little crazy with a baked tofu-pineapple-BBQ pizza too!
I love good old fashioned cheese pie with great sauce and fresh mozzarella. I grew up in NYC, where pizza is like a religion, so I have very high standards! 🙂
I love veggie pizza with spinach and tomatoes!
My favorite pizza is beef and bacon!
I do love a white pizza I first had at The California Pizza Kitchen, which is made with a creamy, garlicky, cheesy white sauce in place of the marinara, sliced potatoes with a scatter of fresh rosemary and mozzarella. I’ve managed to make a similar concoction at home a couple of times but if I had my way I’d be eating it every day!!
Thin crust with cheese, green pepper and mushrooms.
I love making homemade pizza, make it every week. Never get any other type of pizza anymore. I make it half sausage ( sometimes with hard salami added) and half has a mix of sautéed peppers and garlic in olive oil, plus olives if I have them. Food of the gods !! I use a 5 cheese mix because just mozzarella doesn’t have enough oomph. Plus sprinkle lots of parm cheese on and of course lots of spices, including fresh basil from my garden when I have it. I also bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, I pre-bake the crust for 10 minutes first before putting toppings on and find it makes a better pizza.
I never win these things, but gonna keep trying! I’ve wanted to try out a baking steel for quite a while now. Fingers crossed!
My favorite pizza is any kind freshly made and hot enough to burn the inside of my mouth! I enjoy a fresh zucchini pizza in the summer. Simple, fresh, seasonal. Now I just need an outdoor oven so I can live inside my house after I bake it.
I make a wonderful white pizza with ranch dressing as the sauce. Then add blanched broccoli, onions, and cooked cubed chicken. Sprinkle on some parm and pop it in the oven.
My favorite is chicken, bbq sauce, peppers and onions, but the family favors pepperoni.
Baking Steel have heard about would love having one. Love the Breads in 5
I love them all but I will usually order pepperoni with black olives and mushrooms.
Margherita at Punch Pizza! But would love to make any thin crust pizza with fresh veggies this summer.
Love Margherita pizza to make at home. If there’s more time, we go for hawaiian pizza.
Pizza with thinly sliced Granny Smith apples and carmelized onions. Yum!
I love veggie pizza and my hubby loves lots of meat, so we compromise with intere4sting cheeses and additions like pest, fresh herbs, etc.
Thank you for the giveaway. My favorite pizza is goat cheese and zucchini
I like a thin crust made with extra olive oil in the dough, not a lot of tomato sauce and whatever meats I have on hand with bell pepper and onion. My husband likes jalapeno on his half.
When I was a child, my mom and dad made homemade pizza every Saturday night. My mom made the dough. Then my dad rolled it out and dressed it with the toppings, usually peperoni, green peppers and mushrooms. Although it’s a very simple one, that was and still is my favorite pizza.
I like several varieties from plain sauce & cheese with fresh mushrooms to ham & pineapple. I’ve been using a stone am interested in trying the steel. I’ve also read your review on a cast iron one since I have several sizes of frying pans that I love, but that was before I saw your review on the steel.
I tend to love non-traditional toppings, bbq chicken, thai chicken, breakfast, taco. Lately though, I have been eating a lot of veggie pizza (no olives) on thin crust.
I currently have dough in my fridge from the healthy bread book and tomorrow plan to try make pizza with fresh dough for the first time. I am so excited!
I guess I’m just traditional. I prefer Sausage, Pepperoni, and Italian Mushrooms (long running joke with my friends) on a homemade dough. I sometimes make my own sauce, but usually use Newman’s Own Maranara for that.
I’m a Margherita girl. Especially when the basil and tomatoes are from my garden.
Pesto, shrimp, fresh mozzarella. Yum!
Love pizza- especially homemade. Would sure like to win the steel. Just got your book & can’t wait to try the recipes.
My favorite pizza is one I share with my 14 year old son. His half is cheese, but anything goes on my side!
I love garden fresh warm summer tomatoes, with some grated cheeses and a few whatever is in the garden surprises… would love to try baking on a steel!! Thank you for the opportunity to try to win one!
It’s so hard to choose a favorite because there are too many good options! In the colder seasons I like a thicker crust (with some whole wheat in it) and heartier toppings with lots of gooey cheese. In the warmer seasons I like a thinner crust with garlic, spinach, and goat cheese. Pizza–yum!
Love making your breads! Still want to try pizza- I have held off on buying a stone because with 7 children that like to help in the kitchen, I wanted to bake on something that wouldn’t break- this looks like it would work great!
I love pepperoni pizza! Sometimes I also add mushrooms.
Favorite pizza is homemade sharing with the family… the crust, the sauce, the toppings doesn’t really matter…it’t all about time with family and friends
Just starting with The New Artisan Bread book and have my first one in the oven right now. My favorite pizza is sausage and mushrooms and lots of mozzarella.
I love making pizza my favorite pizza is Margherita pizza
I just discovered Artisan Bread in 5 min and would love to try pizza this way…our fav is a thin crust marguerita pizza with fresh tomatoes and basil. Yummmmm
We just bought a pizza stone and I stumbled upon this post while looking for a bread/pizza cookbook. We also bought a pizza screen based on my experience throwing pizza in college. I love the cast iron idea as well. I am looking forward to trying different methods and comparing the delicious results!
My favorite pizza currently is from a San Diego place called Pizza Port. They have a gluten free crust that is pretty tasty. I’m looking forward to learning more gluten free home baking recipes. I heard about this website from NPR’s the Splendid Table.
We were visiting Victoria on Vancouver Island and found a restaurant that the tourists didn’t know about. It was located on a back road and frequented by locals. This place had the best pizza you could imagine! My daughter and I selected a pizza with fresh arugula & white cheese, that was baked in a brick oven; it was definitely not the typical red tomato kind of pizza. What a wonderful find!
I love homemade pizza and have used a large baking stone, but it is so heavy for me to lift that I have to recruit my grandson to lift it into the oven for me. He’s not always around so that presents a problem. I’d love to have a baking steel which probably doesn’t weigh as much, so we could have pizza more often.
My husband makes the pizza dough from your books, then I take over with the toppings. I love to brush the dough with coconut oil instead of sauce. For toppings, my favorite is mozzarella and gorgonzola cheese, roasted garlic chunks, small bits of pineapple, seasoned chicken, spinach, and caramelized onions. All baked until bubbly and the cheese browned and hot. yum !
Just give me a good dough with some pepperoni and maybe some sausage, and I’m good. Have some dough rising now, would be even better with a baking steel!
we weekly dine with a vegetarian so pizza is often on the menu. we have two never move pizza stones in the oven. I’ve never heard of a steel stone. Veggie pizza sport the usual suspects. we like also spinach, feta, onions and a little mozzarella. another is pepper jack and corn. pizza is so versatile!