Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I am getting ready to put two loafs of my French bread in the oven. Usually I put a cookie sheet on the bottom and throw in a 1/2 cup of water to get some moisture in the oven for the Bread. But now we keep the pizza stone in the bottom of the oven, we don't see a need to take it out normally. If the stone is 350 degrees and gets hit with some water will it crack or other bad things. For this time I guess I will take it out, I would hate to ruin the stone it works great. I thought of putting the bread right on the stone but not sure how that would work, although I did that for my Olive Loaf and it worked good.

Thanks,
Barry

Barry,

I bake bread on a stone all the time. (I make about 20 loaves of ciabatta/day at work...all on a stone.)

Peel the bread directly on the stone, but make sure the stone is on a higher rack. Put a cast iron pan on the lower rack (let it get really hot), and then add ice cubes to it after you peel the bread onto the stone.

Amy

Ah, thanks Amy. I do make a Ciabatta bread also. I understand the concept and it sounds pretty good.

Thanks,
Barry

Amy, tried your method of pizza stone on higher rack and pot of ice cubes, worked like a champ.

Thanks,
Barry