KitchenCraft Baking Stone Tray, Non Stick, for Oven or Hob, for Pizza, Bread, Pancake and other Recipes in Gift Box, Round, Cast Iron, 27 cm x 6.5 mm

This is an excellent, Welsh-style cast-iron bakestone. Having seasoned it properly (the cooking surface is meant to be completely black), I've just baked my first batch of Welsh cakes on my induction hob, with gorgeous, delicious results. There was no sticking or burning at all, and the Welsh cakes were cooked perfectly. The cooking was so clean and burn-free that "cleaning" the bakestone afterwards was simply a matter of wiping the surface with a piece of kitchen paper (no hygiene issues here, as the cooking surface reaches such high temperatures that it sterilises itself).Seasoning the bakestone properly will inevitably create smoke and (certainly if you use lard) that smoke will be stinky. I recommend doing it outdoors on a gas camping-style cooking stove or barbecue, with lard and salt (I've read elsewhere that the salt is actually an important part of the blackening process). Expect it to take much longer than the 10-15 minutes specified in the included instructions: it took me about an hour. Keep applying salt and lard to the least blackened parts, rotating the bakestone occasionally to allow all parts to be seasoned evenly, and rubbing the lard-salt mixture into the surface of the cast-iron with a wadded piece of cotton (I used a large cotton handkerchief and then threw it away). Use oven gloves and long sleeves, because the hot, lardy salt will be very, very hot, probably hotter than anything you've ever touched, and it will want to burn holes in your flesh. The seasoning process is an unpleasant, smoky experience, but you should only need to do it once, and it is well worth it, because you will end up with a perfectly natural, very effective non-stick surface: you need never again worry about slowly ingesting fragments of Teflon as you gradually chip and burn away the artificial non-stick surfaces of your cooking vessels.

Decades ago when I was younger, still living at home with my parents, I was always using my mother's bake stone. Ok it was a lot heavier than this one; suppose that's why I was always hesitant to getting one myself because how heavy the cast iron is., but this one is so much lighter than my mother's. I can lift this one with one hand, my mother's I had to use two hands because how heavy it was.This one, even tho half the weight, is still the same exact quality.I keep it on top of the hob covered in a tea towel so doesn't get dirty.I haven't an oven so couldn't quite remember how to season it, but then all of a sudden came back to me....*cast doesn't need to be seasoned if use it often*I switched the hob up high and left the stone on top until it was smoking almost, then I removed it and put it on a heat surface to rest. Then used a little bit of grease proof paper, roughly rubbed some Marg all over the hot stone . Let the stone go cold, made the mixture for the Welsh cakes (recipe included in leaflet). Then put the stone back ontop the warm hob and cooked the cakes in batches. My kids went ballistic with excitement when they tasted them.Iv used the stone almost everyday since buying it, scrubbing it using little bit of fairy and bicarbonate of soda as soon I remove it off the hob....don't even let it cool down before putting under cold tap so Iv got hold it with an oven glove.Then once its washed and rinsed I always use a tea towel to dry straight away.Iv only needed to rub Marg into the cast six times now it's practically non-stick so I shouldn't need to much longer. Wish I bought this decades ago now.

Satisfied

I had read several reviews before purchasing this product, some good and some bad. I was fortunate enough to have been able to make my own cast iron bakestones when in engineering many years ago so I know how to "season" these properly. I did this prior to using this stone and have suffered no major problems so far with food sticking. Some residue may occur, its a hot cast steel surface after all and not coated in a non-stick material like your pots and pans! I bought it as a replacement for my ceramic stone (which I had 3 of) and they all cracked when using them on the flame for my gas barbeque with portable pizza oven which sits on the barbeque. I have already used this stone at least a dozen times already and it should never break under normal circumstances. Tip - wash it and prep it exactly as the instructions say. This is important. I only ever use the one side of the stone for cooking and hence clean that same side. After cleaning, I always run a little veg oil on that side when putting it away ready for next time. I have also used it as a griddle on the barbeque when cooking some sticky prawn skewers because they fall through the grill slats otherwise!! Yes you get some sticky sauce residue drying on it but its easy to scrub clean afterwards because it has been prepared properly. Home made doughy pizza bases have never stuck by the way. Lightly oil the stone, once rolled out, use a bit of flour on the dough base, stack it with toppings, slide it on the stone, cook and enjoy. Honestly, the best performance always come with the best preparation. Same with all cooking. In a nutshell, a very good quality stone that should give years of use. Just prepare it properly and look after it before and after using it.