Pizza Stone Fail

Unless you’ve been… well… sleeping under a pizza stone… you’re probably aware that we are in the midst of a homemade pizza boom. Last month, The New York Times published a piece about how to make pizza at home (The Slow Route to Homemade Pizza) and Slice recently began running a feature – My Pie Mondays – in which amature pizza makers are able to show off their work.

I’ve been eager to make pizza for quite a while, but have been slow to purchase the proper equipment. I even took a class at Pizza A Casa earlier this year (Making Pizza At Home Is Easier Than You Think) and unfortunately haven’t been able put to use the tips I learned. Last month, I finally decided to order a pizza stone and after some thorough internet searches, decided on a set from cooking.com that included a pizza peel.

The reviews on the site were positive, there was a lifetime warranty against defects (whatever that means) and it was just the right size for my oven. When the box arrived at my apartment this past weekend, I was as excited as a little boy is on Christmas morning (or probably more like a little boy is on the first night of Chanukah, but I digress…). But to my dismay, when I opened the box I found a cracked stone!

It’s now on it’s way back to cooking.com, and hopefully another stone will be arriving soon. I was surprised that nowhere on the outside of the box did it say “fragile.” And the stone wasn’t packed particularly well either. This slab of awesomeness which is suppose to be so durable was unable to make it through the rigors of the United States Postal Service. Hopefully my new stone will arrive fully intact, and I will soon be able to begin my pizza-making ventures.