Author Topic: Pizza steel  (Read 16772 times)

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
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Pizza steel
« on: 04 May, 2020, 09:39:44 pm »
I am pondering getting one. Anyone have any experience?
I'm talking about a lump of mild steel at least 1/4 inch thick, not a baking sheet.

I have been using a pizza stone but I've only had this one (my 2nd) since January and it's cracked already.
Intiutively a stone seems like it ought to be better because it's porous, but I've seen some good reports and I can see one for sale at about the same price as a decent thickness Cordierite stone.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Clare

  • Is in NZ
Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #1 on: 04 May, 2020, 11:33:50 pm »
We've had a pizza steel for about five years, it is as good as a stone cooking-wise and has lasted about five times longer than the best we managed with a stone.

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
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Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #2 on: 05 May, 2020, 06:18:23 am »
 :thumbsup:
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #3 on: 05 May, 2020, 09:37:17 am »
Is a pizza steel just a lump of 6mm mild steel of appropriate dimensions?  If it is, would it be cheaper just to go to a steel stockholder to get an offcut? 
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #4 on: 05 May, 2020, 10:48:15 am »

Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #5 on: 05 May, 2020, 12:57:24 pm »
Just walk down the street & liberate a manhole cover.... ;)
Not fast & rarely furious

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Mrs Pingu

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Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #6 on: 05 May, 2020, 06:33:57 pm »
Well y'see I did think about just getting a lump of steel. But then researching there was various comments about mill scale on the surface and whether the mill would use corrosion inhibitors and whatnot and I just wasn't very sure about putting my dinner on that....
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

ian

Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #7 on: 05 May, 2020, 06:43:34 pm »
You could both cook and serve it off a galvanized bin lid. Hipster kids will come Instagram you.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #8 on: 05 May, 2020, 06:45:52 pm »
Mill scale is just the surface left from hot-rolling and the cooling water sprays used (particularly for thermomechanically controlled process steel). It is pretty rare to add corrosion inhibitors to ordinary plate steel. There would be minor corrosion unless the steel was scrubbed pretty hard when washed and then oiled.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #9 on: 05 May, 2020, 06:59:47 pm »
To treat, you could blue it (possibly a struggle with 1/4" plate), or more reasonably, season as you would a steel pan, really very straightforward and easy to maintain. I'm contemplating creating a mild steel baguette tin, as against buying an ally one.

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #10 on: 05 May, 2020, 07:05:56 pm »
You could both cook and serve it off a galvanized bin lid. Hipster kids will come Instagram you.

Bin lid balancing on a paving slab.

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #11 on: 05 May, 2020, 07:07:43 pm »
To treat, you could blue it (possibly a struggle with 1/4" plate), or more reasonably, season as you would a steel pan, really very straightforward and easy to maintain. I'm contemplating creating a mild steel baguette tin, as against buying an ally one.

I'll get you one next time I am in France, if you can wait that long.

As you say season it as a steel pan, jobbed jobbed. 

Mine is an aero grade special composite superlite weight something or other that I liberated from a skip at rolls royce derby.

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #12 on: 05 May, 2020, 07:13:08 pm »
My pizza peel came from the same skip but I had to flatten it.

I'm not bragging, just can't walk/cycle past a skip with out having a look...

Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #13 on: 05 May, 2020, 07:57:00 pm »
You could always buy a cast iron frying pan and take the handle off. I make (small) pizzas by first dry frying, then grilling.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
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Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #14 on: 05 May, 2020, 08:13:10 pm »
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #15 on: 05 May, 2020, 08:40:50 pm »
To treat, you could blue it (possibly a struggle with 1/4" plate), or more reasonably, season as you would a steel pan, really very straightforward and easy to maintain. I'm contemplating creating a mild steel baguette tin, as against buying an ally one.

I'll get you one next time I am in France, if you can wait that long.

As you say season it as a steel pan, jobbed jobbed. 

Mine is an aero grade special composite superlite weight something or other that I liberated from a skip at rolls royce derby.

Thanks, much appreciated offer - I  hope to get to frogland as soon as we can, too. Fact is, most of the consumer stuff you buy in France is pretty .... french? and the decent stuff you can buy in Nisbets. Maybe, except for baguette bakers.

1mm perf steel should only cost about a tenner for a decent piece, and I think I could form it around a piece of drainpipe, or maybe see if my local friendly fabricator could put it on his roller and box bender. The alternative might be to make two end rails of 6mmk round, and weld pieces of 25 x 3mm flat across.Yes, of course it would be easier and cheaper to buy.

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #16 on: 05 May, 2020, 10:42:15 pm »
You could always buy a cast iron frying pan and take the handle off. I make (small) pizzas by first dry frying, then grilling.

Like this: https://www.pizzapilgrims.co.uk/2017/06/frying-pan-pizza/

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #17 on: 05 May, 2020, 11:20:12 pm »
To treat, you could blue it (possibly a struggle with 1/4" plate), or more reasonably, season as you would a steel pan, really very straightforward and easy to maintain. I'm contemplating creating a mild steel baguette tin, as against buying an ally one.

I'll get you one next time I am in France, if you can wait that long.

As you say season it as a steel pan, jobbed jobbed. 

Mine is an aero grade special composite superlite weight something or other that I liberated from a skip at rolls royce derby.

Thanks, much appreciated offer - I  hope to get to frogland as soon as we can, too. Fact is, most of the consumer stuff you buy in France is pretty .... french? and the decent stuff you can buy in Nisbets. Maybe, except for baguette bakers.

1mm perf steel should only cost about a tenner for a decent piece, and I think I could form it around a piece of drainpipe, or maybe see if my local friendly fabricator could put it on his roller and box bender. The alternative might be to make two end rails of 6mmk round, and weld pieces of 25 x 3mm flat across.Yes, of course it would be easier and cheaper to buy.

That baguette thing was what I was offering and I think it was mild steel and not non stick a few euro, less than 5 from one either auchan or conforama or la foir fouille.

Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #18 on: 05 May, 2020, 11:39:25 pm »
 

That baguette thing was what I was offering and I think it was mild steel and not non stick a few euro, less than 5 from one either auchan or conforama or la foir fouille.

oooo good to know. Now, all we have to do is get to France........

As it happens we had an apartment with this view booked for a couple of weeks ago (the one behind with the balcony terrace) and I've left the deposit with the guy rather than get it back - it's on the cards for as soon as we can.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #19 on: 06 May, 2020, 08:01:33 am »
^ initially I wondered why you had booked in to an airport control tower!
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #20 on: 06 May, 2020, 10:00:38 am »
The view from the terrace



As in "gnome", the beer is silent.


nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #21 on: 06 May, 2020, 10:05:22 am »
You could always buy a cast iron frying pan and take the handle off. I make (small) pizzas by first dry frying, then grilling.
I hadn't thought of that. I usually use a heavy duty baking tray. The large cast frying pan that gets used a lot would fit in the oven without the handle being removed. It's a big oven.
There's no vibrations, but wait.

Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #22 on: 06 May, 2020, 10:20:53 am »
Ooohh.. I have a smaller pan with a heavy bottom and no handle which is used for tarte tatin. Usually hides at the back of the cupboard.
I may give it a try for pizzas.

Pointers to a good recipe?

ian

Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #23 on: 06 May, 2020, 10:39:55 am »
I sometimes make pizza in a big saute pan. There's nothing special, heat the pan, slap in the base, sprinkle on toppings, cook till there's a bit of char on the base, and slide under the grill till everything is melty and toasty.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
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Re: Pizza steel
« Reply #24 on: 06 May, 2020, 11:02:31 am »
Pointers to a good recipe?

I like Delia Smith's base. How To Cook, Book 1, page 94.

A man of impeccable taste, obviously.
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