Becky wrote:
> I can buy another
> rectangular stone and put them side by side in the oven, but I was
> wondering about unglazed tiles. I know there must be more than one person
> out there who uses them, but I'm a little leery about lead in the clay and
> so forth.
In the late 70's, in the USA, lead was banned from building materials, so
unglazed quarry tiles produced here are perfectly safe. I've been using
mine for about 4 years now. They cost me less than $5. Prior to that I had
a Pampered Chef baking stone and its replacement cracked in my oven! (I
think it was the water spritz that did it.)
I keep the tiles on the bottom rack of my lower oven which is the
designated baking oven. The tile man kindly split 3 of them so that I could
line the edges of the rack and have it fully covered. They remain there for
whatever I cook in that oven and are only moved occasionally to vacuum up
the burned bits of cornmeal that fall to the bottom of the oven.
I bake formed breads and pizzas directly on them and loaves in their loaf
pans all to good effect. A slow braised meat in a Dutch oven does better on
them too...I think it is because they maintain a steady heat in the oven.
The key is to get them up to heat properly...my oven needs a good 45
minutes before putting the bread in.
I notice you live in Canada and I'm not sure of your lead laws, but I'd
wager they are not much different from ours. I'm sure any purveyor of
building materials would be able to tell you. I find the quarry tiles have
made a positive difference in my breads and they are certainly a more
affordable alternative to baking stones.
renzo
in ri