I picked up a pizza stone on an impulse while on vacation recently. I’ve been wanting one for a while because my pizza is a bit lackluster and I was hoping a pizza stone would elevate my crust to restaurant quality.

I tried it out immediately when I returned home and I was very pleased with the results. The pizza stone helps to evenly distribute oven heat and absorb moisture which results in a very crisp crust - something you just can’t get otherwise.

You can buy pizza stones to fit in any conventional cooking oven in many different shapes and sizes. If you don’t feel like dropping $50 on a pizza stone you could run to your local hardware store and pick up some unglazed tiles for the same purpose. In fact, I remember an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown used an unglazed tile as a pizza stone. Budget conscious do-it-yourselfers may want to go that route.

The pizza stone can also be used for other baked goods as well. Make sure you sprinkle some cornmeal, semolina or breadcrumbs onto the pizza stone before you slide your creation into the oven to prevent the crust from sticking.

If you like to make your own pizza, a pizza stone is the only way to go. I also picked up a pizza peel so that I could have the full pizza-geek experience.

Photo credit: sharedrecipes