Stone Baking Tips: How to Achieve Even Heating for Perfect Results

[Intrepid_Chef]

A dear friend of mine recently bought a stone from me. (She gladly paid direct shipping rather than order it from someone in her hometown so I want to do right by her!)

This is what she posted in a message board we belong to:

I got the large baking stone last week and used it for the first time yesterday to bake rolls.

Here's my question: the center rolls seemed underdone while the inner ones were borderline done/overdone. Is there a way to even out the baking? I'm worried that my pizza (from scratch, raw dough) will cook unevenly, too.

I had let the rolls rise on the stone then baked them at 425 like the recipe stated.

People are asking if her oven is heating unevenly ... she doesn't think so but does think maybe she had too many rolls on the stone.

Also ...these were her results when baking pizza:

What was weird is that it still baked unevenly. To try to get the pizza to rise more, I made it then put it in the cold oven and brought it up to temperature instead of putting it in the hot oven.

Anyway, the dough on the stone in the BACK of the oven was not as well done as the part on the stone in the FRONT. That's really weird, since on my metal pan, it's the opposite. I tend to rotate the metal pan halfway through cooking so it bakes evenly; I didn't bother with the stone, but I should have.

I was wondering if it was because more of the heating element is at the front of the oven. But I thought this stone was supposed to heat evenly!

One plus: the crust came out crunchier than normal, and hubby liked that.

Can anybody help her? I'm sending her a link to this thread so she can keep up with your sage advice!

 

[JAE]

My oven is pretty bad, and although it is only 2.5 years old, all of my food is cooked more in the back of my oven than the front. It's annoying, but if I have the oven on longer it cooks more evenly. The second and third batch of cookies cooks more evenly, but it isn't a perfect solution. I already want a new oven!
Not sure this helps, but it really could be her oven.

 

[lkprescott]

Could be her oven. I have things in the back cook faster than in the front, regardless of what I put in to bake.. glass, metal, stone.. I've gotten used to turning it about 2/3 of the way through and that evens things up nicely. Other than that, is she cooking it long enough? It also might be overcrowding on roll side. When I watched a clustermate make up the christmas tree with the can of crescent rolls she had them very close at first and a director there noted she should put them further apart and they came out great! I've noted that the stone does heat evenly so that if you check the bottoms of things they're nice but perhaps the heat transfer in an oven has something to do with it and how the middle of things get done? I'd have her try doing things various ways, making notes about what and how she changes her variables to see what works best then go with that. I've found that adjusting my mind around the stone has really helped me love 'em so much more than my dingy old metal pans that just disappoint me every time I use them and really just need to go find another home. LOL

 

[chefann]

The pizza may have cooked unevenly because it was in the oven while it was coming up to temp. The part nearer the heating element would have been exposed to more heat.

the other thing to remember with stones is that they do heat more evenly than metal or glass, but they take longer to heat up. So something that's smaller with a short cook time (like cookies) will actually need a couple more minutes. And if you don't take that into account, some things on the stone will be more done compared to others.

Also, as stated above, the stone cannot compensate for overcrowding.

 

[finley1991]

The only time I have things that cook unevenly is when I use my Bar Pan... cooks faster in the back than the front but it's because I can't get the oven door closed all the way with the BP in it. (So I know to rotate it halfway through!) My guess is like someone metioned above... it's most likely her oven. Hard to delicately tell her that though...

 

[priscilla]

Several things to tell herMake sure the stone is on the bottom rack of the oven.

Make sure the oven is at the temp it is set for, may need to use an oven thermometer to be sure. The temp can be changed at the knob if it is off.

Make sure the oven is FULLY preheated before putting food in. Some ovens can take 15 minutes to be FULLY preheated. My oven light kicks off, but the temp is not stable for another couple cycles, then I put my food in.

Robin