When I started with the Baking Steel project, my goal was to deliver “the crust you crave” to customers. Nailed it; the Baking Steel can turn a standard home oven into an industrial powerhouse by reaching temperatures higher than 700 degrees Fahrenheit, perfect for creating pizza and bread crusts rivaling those baked in commercial ovens. But as I have discovered along the way, the Baking Steel is capable of much more.
Our second major product release, the Baking Steel Griddle, opened up new avenues of cooking and baking with steel. One side is the same as the traditional Baking Steel: slightly textured and ideal for putting right in the oven to make perfect pizza and bread. On the flip side, the Baking Steel Griddle has a flat, smooth surface and a channel along the perimeter to capture grease. These touches allow you to take the Baking Steel Griddle out of your oven and use it on your stovetop… and beyond. We toyed with this tool in the bread chapter, but now we’re really going to dig in; I’ll show you how, using both of these Baking Steel surfaces, you can upgrade every meal, from breakfast to dinner. Of course, many of the stovetop recipes can also be prepared using a traditional Baking Steel surface; in the cases where the Baking Steel Griddle really is the best tool, I’ve made note of it in the recipe heading.
You can create a DIY diner-style range by placing the griddle directly on your stovetop, grill perfect burgers with your steel atop the grates of your outdoor grill, or even freeze it down with dry ice to make ice cream in moments—this slab of steel goes far beyond the capabilities of a pizza stone or skillet. This chapter will open up a world of possibilities for making delicious, restaurant-caliber food with this truly unique cooking tool.