Baking pizzas are great and doing it in the comforts of your own home is even better. So we bring you this Artisan Pizza Steel review to let you know how fun it really is to cook pizzas.
While we have repeatedly told you on this site that pizza stones are the best options for making great crusts on your pizza, we cannot deny the ability of pizza stees to do just as good.
These types of cookware are perfect not only for making pizzas but for other baked goods as well. They are highly conductive and can redistribute the heat that they have gathered.
The secret to making great pizzas with exceptionally crispy crusts is the hot baking surface. They help eliminate the moisture from the pizza crust and the toppings as well.
See, extremely hot ovens are simply not enough for this. The pizzas need a hot surface to cook the crust perfectly and baking steel does that job exceptionally well so you really need one.
They conduct so much heat that will be able to produce not only the hot surface that the pizza needs but also even out the entire temperature inside the oven for an even cooking.
Cooking pizzas at home will also bring you more versatility. You can select the ingredients that you want so you no longer need to specify the order that you take from pizza delivery restaurants.
So if you want to know what pizza steel from Artisan can bring to your home cooking, then read on as we go through the details of what this type of cookware can do for your pizzas.
We will also be comparing it slightly with other baking materials that you can also use. So let us go ahead and see what we can get from this amazing baking accessory.
What Is A Pizza Steel?
Some people might be confused as to what pizza steel is so let us clear that one first. Pizza steel is often confused with baking steel but not to worry as they are almost the same.
See, the pizza steel can also be baking steel as you can use it with other recipes. The difference is that pizza steels are really meant for baking pizzas because of certain features.
Pizza steel is a solid sheet of steel that is designed to resist heat and distribute it as well. The steel used in making pizza steels is mostly recycled and processed to get a durable material.
Usually, these types of cookware come in half inches. The Artisan pizza steel is slightly thinner pizza steel as it is created with only 1/4 inch thickness for a specific reason.
It is a basic surface but it is able to retain the heat that the oven produces. This then creates the perfect surface for the pizza or any baked goods, for that matter, to be cooked perfectly.
Usually, pizza steels are made with circular shapes to get the user to shape the pizza in an easier way. However, some, like the Artisan pizza steel, are made in a rectangular shape.
Pizza steels give you a denser surface that will retain heat from the oven. You can also use them over direct flames as they will not break over extreme temperatures.
Artisan Pizza Steel Review
There is not much to discuss pizza steel in terms of features as it really is just a flat baking surface. However, we will do our best to describe it for you and how you can use it
This pizza steel is only 0.25 inches thick but it is heavy. It weighs over 16 pounds so always be careful when lifting it up as the relation to thickness and weight can be unassuming.
Compared to even thicker baking stones, this pizza steel is heavy. So that means that it is able to retain heat better from the oven that you are using which only makes it better for pizzas.
As for its size, its dimensions are 14.25 in width and 16 inches in length. This means that you can cook a lot on this pizza steel as large as a 16-inch pizza for a small party.
The surface of this pizza steel is made with a low-friction material so that means that you can slide the pizza in and out of it easily, removing the mess that a sticky surface does.
Cooking With The Artisan Pizza Steel
Of course, my review will not be complete without my personal experience of using the product. So here, we will be talking about how well it does when you use the Artisan Pizza Steel.
At first, I was hesitant because the product seemed too heavy for a thin rack in the oven. However, because of its wide surface, its weight was distributed evenly so it did well in the oven.
Preheating it only took just as long as the oven did. Once the oven reached the desired temperature, the pizza steel was also hot enough for the crust to cook perfectly in just minutes.
The smooth surface of the pizza steel allowed me to just slide the pizza onto it. It did not need extra flour or oil but you can still put some if you want to make it even smoother.
The small bumps that are on the surface of the pizza steel helped in making the steam escape easily. Of course, you will not be able to see them because they are on a micro-level.
The heavy-duty steel used for making this pizza steel was very helpful. It did not break when you put it on a surface that has a different temperature from the oven that it just came from.
The conductive features of the pizza steel allowed me to cook multiple pizzas in a few minutes. It retains heat well and because of the high heat, it cooked pizzas in a couple of minutes.
When you put the slightly wet dough on the pizza steel, you will immediately see the steam escaping underneath. This made the crust very crispy and the toppings perfectly cooked.
Overall, Artisan Pizza Steel is a great baking surface. It is now my new favorite and I bet that once you try it, you will also fall in love with this beautiful piece of cookware.
Maintenance
One advantage of Artisan pizza steel is that it is very easy to clean. Unlike baking stones, the pizza steel is not porous so it does not absorb chemicals such as bleach or soap.
However, there is no need to use either one of those when cleaning the pizza steel. You just need to brush the surface to remove residues and that will do that job.
If you want to be more thorough in cleaning the pizza steel, you can run it under warm water and then brush it again. Let it dry and then place it back in the oven for storing.
Seasoning the pizza steel is also not necessarily needed at all times. Frequently using it will help season the cooking surface to make the already-low-friction surface smoother.
You only need to season it when needed. The simple secret to seasoning the cooking surface of the pizza steel is to use oil when cooking to help maintain the non-stick surface.
The coloring that you will see on the pizza steel will be naturally occurring. Do not worry too much as the color will actually mean that the pizza steel is better for cooking other recipes.
The darker color that the pizza steels after lots of cooking are from burned fats that only enhances the non-stick property of the pizza steel. So cook as often as possible with it.
The heat that it garners from the oven will also be enough to sterilize the cooking surface. So unless necessary, do not wash the pizza steel with water, just brush the residues off.
Regularly using the pizza steel will also give it properties that will prevent it from rusting. The oil it gathers helps block the oxygen and moisture from the air to keep it rust-free.
Aside from that, there is not much you need to do in order to keep the pizza steel in perfect shape, it is durable so you can store it in the oven or in a cabinet and it will not be damaged.
Why Pizza Steel Is Better Than Pizza Stone
As I have mentioned, we will be comparing the Artisan pizza steel to other cooking surfaces, and what better cookware to compare the pizza steel than a pizza stone.
Pizza stones are arguably the best cooking surfaces for cooking pizzas. They recreate the original brick ovens to create that crispy crust but they do have some issues.
So here, we will be briefly describing and talking about the advantages of the pizza steel over the more common pizza stone to get why pizza steel is the superior cooking surface.
Thermal Shock Resistance
Pizza steels are made out of high-quality durable materials. These materials are so strong that they do not crack or break even if you expose them to thermal shock.
Thermal shock is a property where cookware has its limit in terms of the temperature it can handle. It is the sudden change of temperature in the surroundings that can damage certain cookware.
Pizza steels do not experience this so you can place them on a cold surface and then into the oven right after and they will hardly be damaged. Pizza stones cannot do this as they will break.
Direct Flame Resistance
Pizza stones usually need something to block the fire from getting directly on the stone. With pizza steels, you no longer need to worry about these blockers as they can take it.
That means that using the pizza steel on a grill is completely safe. So with that, you can cook almost anything on the pizza steel like searing vegetables and meat.
More Conductive
Steel is more conductive than stone. This means that they can garner enough heat just like pizza stones but they do it in a faster process to make the cooking process, well, faster.
In fact, studies have shown that pizza steels can cook pizzas 30% faster than pizza stones. This makes the pizza crust extremely crispy and the toppings cooked to perfection.
Conclusion
Pizza steels are the perfect cooking surface to make great crusts on pizzas. They also conduct enough heat that they also distribute evenly to make the cooking process better.
Pizzas cooked with pizza steels are often crispy and the toppings are made with a nice finish and a great cheese melted on top. This is why pizza steel is perfect for pizzas.
You can also use it to bake bread and other baked goods. If you take good care of your pizza steel, it will last for a lifetime and so you can pass it down to your children.
The Artisan pizza steel might be one of the thinnest pizza steels on the market but it does a really great job in cooking pizzas. In just minutes, you get to eat a perfect pizza for your next meal.
It is also one of the more affordable pizza steels that are available right now. So get your oven ready and get one of these pizza steels for a perfect pizza on your next cookout.
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Artisan vs cheaper TCFUNDY at amazon.
Big difference?
Thanks, Shrey!!!
I saw the product and the reviews seem good to me. I cannot say much about durability, but I think it should be fine. You can get both and see if there is a difference and return the one you don’t want. That’s what I would do.