Someone on another forum posted this
Economical Baking or Pizza Stone Alternative
Even though I previously bought a pizza stone for $25 or thereabouts (15 inches round), since I am really into baking pizzas from dough, I thought some of you would be interested in a really cheap and great alternative.
UNGLAZED QUARRY TILES (6x6x 1/2 inch thick) are available from
Home Depot for $ 0.30 a piece - thats right 30 cents, and $8.40 for a 41 lb. box of 28 of them. Makes a great gift for xmas for any relative that is into baking bread or pizza.
They are Red Mayflower (color of rust) and are stain resistent and have a very low water absorbtion. The key thing is NEVER to use any glazed tiles as they contain LEAD. Unglazed quarry tiles = No Lead = No health problem.
For a gas oven, place them on the floor of the oven and for an electric oven place them on the lowest rack setting in the oven. Preheat to 500 degrees for an hour before baking the pizza or bread. I usually get up to 500 degrees in about 25 min.
If you need to cut the tiles to fit, Home Depot sells a 14 inch manual tile cutter for just less than $18. You score the tile an then press down to snap the tile along the score. Home Depot no longer cuts tile, and
Lowe's doesn't carry unglazed quarry tile, but only cuts what they sell.
Since my gas oven is 16x18 inches the best
solution is (3) - 8x12 tiles, and cut one of them into 2- 8x6 tiles to fit the 16x18 space on the floor of the oven.
Dal-Tile has a factory in Kentucky that produces the 8x12 tiles but I haven't yet contacted them with regard to minimum order,
cost, etc. Will followup when I get the information.