Hi all
I have read a few articles about using granite as a pizza stone. Reports seem to be that it works fine. I have a spare bit of granite worktop so thought I would give it a go. Before I do I thought I would seek your advice...
I am a little worried that the granite coukd have sealant on it. Any ideas how I tell? Some sites have recommended putting it in a very hot oven and the sealer/ lacquer would start smoking and eventually burn off.... Anyone any experience of this?
Thanks
Lee.
Since no-one with more experience has commented, let me add my thoughts. Personally, I would be surprised if granite worktops have a sealer on the grounds that I don't think it has significant porosity, and it polishes mechanically to a good finish.
It seems a reasonable idea that cooking it at perhaps 250C will destroy organic compounds and drive off volatiles (I am fairly sure it would not have a "non-stick" sealer containing PTFE, which remains stable at
250C). You might then want to rub down the surface with suitable abrasive paper to remove any residues.Or perhaps you could re-polish the surface, or get it polished by, say, a monumental mason.
You could talk to a funeral director (who will know the local masons). They are invariably polite and considerate, and have quiet periods in their working day, and take the long view on customer service.
In my experience, *all* of their working day is quiet...
Alternatively, risk £8.99 for something sprcifically intended for the job ?
No risk. My wife bought 3 of these in succession and every one of them cracked after one or two bakes
Total crap. Avoid.
Did she wash them? On something similar I have the instructions say not to wet them as they are porous and trapped moisture will expand and crack the stone if placed in a very hot oven.
I found no difference between using a pre-heated stone and placing the pizza on a open wire mesh that allows hot air from a fan assisted oven to hit the base of the pizza, again in a pre-heated oven. I do favour the thin base type pizzas so it may be different with a thicker base.
FWIW my thoughts are, it would be worth testing a small off-cut from your bit of worktop in a very hot oven before attempting to strip it, in case it hasn't been sealed and doesn't need further treatment. If it's obvious that it has been sealed then remove most of the sealant either with paint stripper of a sander using the finest grade paper you can get hold of. Then put it in said very hot oven to burn off the remainder. Stripping or sanding first will reduce the amount of smoke generated, but it would be advisable to do it when SWMBO is out, and have a window open. But don't be surprised if the finish on the piece of worktop isn't as glossy as the original. It's what the lacquer does, amongst other things.
As an aside, and wearing my geology hat, when used to describe worktops the term 'granite' is almost always mis-applied. It seems to be used to describe almost any type of stone, only a few of which are actually granite in the geological sense. True granite is a silvery grey or pink stone usually with obvious crystal growths in it. None of the black 'granite' worktops are true granite.
It's recommended to seal granite in the kitchen as it still has a degree of absorbency I believe. Did ours with Lithofin
No idea what the melting temp. is. You could use it the wrong way up as the underside will be un treated and also un-polished. Give it a good burn-up in the oven at a temp and duration far hotter than you'd use and see what happens.
:)
Doesn't it also give off Radon ?
We did have an amusing moment when visiting the open day at a local limestone quarry, where the nice person telling us about things who was supposed to be a geologist told us they were quarrying special granite.
So worktops are often taken for granite?
(groan)
Yes some do, although whether it's true of all granites, I don't know. It depends on the uranium content of the granite (radon is a daughter of uranium). But the OP won't be troubled by it unless his pizza stones approach cubic miles in volume and are heavily fissured to let the radon out. A bit big to fit in his oven, and likely to break up in use. The black so-called 'granites' used for worktops contain significantly less uranium than true granites, so would give off even less radon, if any.
granted!
Thanks all for your replies.
I also have a conventional pizza stone (about 20mm thick) and it works perfectly. I use it in the oven to bake bread. Also, leaving it in during the ovens self clean mode brings it up like new.
The granite is part of my brick BBQ I am building. I have a spare bit of granite which matches so thought it would be good to use it as the base for the pizza oven. It is black (mottled) so from the above assume not actually granite.
I have a small piece so will try putting it in the oven and see what happens.
Thanks again
Lee.
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