Good to know.

Someone at the WaPo food section also suggested, if you have a big cast iron skillet, just flip that over and use the bottom of it. Seems like a good idea, though I've never tried it since we have a stone.

Cooks Illustrated had an interesting piece a few months back about how you should preheat your pizza stone even longer than just the time it takes to preheat the oven. The crusts that the 30 min preheated stones produced were noticeably browner than the others. This has been true in our experience as well.

I don't bother using ours - I find that using a really hot oven and placing on baking sheet directly onto the rack works just as well.

I bought a Lodge cast iron pizza pan instead. Half the price of a WS pizza stone and works wonderfully. Also has multiple uses. Made in USA! On sale at amazon.

Anonymous wrote:We like ours from WS too.

+1

I got mine from pampered chef in 1998 and wouldn't trade it. It's held up beautifully and is perfectly seasoned.

Old Stone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAR-szsnwPI

We have pizza stones from Trader Joes, probably 10 years old. I wish they still sold them! I heat mine in a 475 degree oven (just put them in while the oven preheats), then sprinkle them with fine cornmeal before putting the pizza dough on - makes a great crust with a bit of crispness to it and the crust won't stick. I used to use non-glazed terra cotta floor tiles (heat them up the same way) and they were great too.

Ours is just kind of a generic pink one that someone gave us. Works great. I wasn't really aware there were big differences.

We like ours from WS too.

The Williams Sonoma one is thicker than some and I think it has a longterm warranty.

We are just getting into making our own pizzas and would like to get a stone that makes it even better.