Pizza stone

A pizza stone is a slab of ceramic, cordierite, or similar stone material that sits in the oven and bakes pizza directly on its surface. Unlike steel, stone heats and releases energy more slowly and evenly, which gives a gentler, more forgiving bake that still dries and crisps the base far better than a metal pan.

Stone works by drawing moisture out of the dough as it bakes while radiating stored heat back into the crust, which helps prevent the soggy centers that can happen on a plain baking sheet. It generally will not push a bake quite as fast or as browned as steel, but many bakers prefer the texture it gives, especially for thinner styles.

Cordierite handles rapid temperature swings and thermal shock much better than cheaper ceramic stones, which matters if you preheat aggressively or use a broiler. A common mistake is thermal shock itself: putting a cold stone straight into a fully preheated oven, or worse, running cold water over a hot stone to clean it, both of which can crack it.