Pizzacraft Square Steel Baking Plate (14") - Durable Baking Tray for Crispy Crust Pizza, Bread, Pastries - Durable Steel Plate for Oven or BBQ Grill - Achieve Bakery-Quality Results

Baking plate work in two ways: They're an alternative to your baking stone, and they can also be used at the same time as a baking stone. Steels are great for pizza, bread, pastries or any other baked goods. They eliminate hot spots while cooking, and produce uniformly browned crust.

Two suggested methods for cooking with a pizza steel are: Steel and stone: Place a steel baking plate with pizza on it on the bottom oven rack while positioning a pizza stone on the top rack a few inches above to achieve perfectly crisp crust. Radiant heat from the stone will help to brown the top crust and cook the toppings like the elevated ambient heat of a pizza oven. Steel and broiler: Place pizza steel on a rack positioned directly below the broiler of your oven. The pizza steel will achieve a perfectly crisp crust, while direct heat from the broiler will brown the top crust and cook the toppings.

A Baking plate is optimal because metal conducts heat better than stone and it stores more heat than stone - both key characteristics in creating a pizza that cooks up light and crisp. In a 500 F oven, a Baking plate will stabilize at around 450 F due to the steel's radiative properties. It gives constant heat even as it absorbs it. That means it stabilizes at a temperature that's slightly cooler than the air around it. However, it is better at transferring energy to food placed on top of it.

HOW TO USE: Pre-heat the Baking plate in the oven for 45 minutes to one hour. Place uncooked pizza in the middle of the Baking plate and proceed to cook your pizza according to the instructions of your pizza recipe. For best results, we recommend that you pre-heat your oven and steel at 500-550F, then cook your pizza for about eight minutes. Keep an eye on your food to reduce the chance of a burnt crust.

CARE: Hand wash with warm water, and immediately dry. Allowing the steel to remain wet will shorten its life and could contribute to rusting. Do not use soap to clean. Washing with soap will require the steel to be re-seasoned. Occasionally rub oil on steel to maintain seasoning. A pizza steel does require the same kind of care that one would give to cast iron.

CAUTION: Steel plate will get hot. Use oven mitt or glove when handling. We do not recommend using a steel on the grill. It is harder to control temperature on a grill, which means your steel could overheat quickly.