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A Baking steel is basically just a chunk of steel that you stuff in your oven, heat up then cook on. It helps retain heat, evenly distribute heat and heat the underside of whatever you’re doing.
Rather than pay $100+ for one you can easily make your own. Here’s what we did…
Contents
Just a chunk of some mild steel. This was about 20”x20”x0.25”. It was purchased at the local steel yard very cheaply.
The mill scale needs to be removed along with any rust. We used Muriatic Acid along with proper PPE.
BE CAREFUL! It just takes a few cycles of acid->scrub->rinse and you’re good to go.
The steel purchased was too large to fit in the oven it was to be used in. So it was cut with a plasma cutter. Using a piece of plywood as a guide is totally fine despite what you may think otherwise. The risk of it catching fire is very, very low.
Plasma cutting can leave somewhat of a rough edge, but all the edges need to be cleaned up anyway. An angle grinder makes quick work of this.
The surfaces were now wet-sanded to #400. Wet sanding is important, and using a finish sander is also important. Larger Random Orbital Sanders can cause swirly marks that a finish sander will not.
After some use, it appears that sanding to a lower grit may be more appropriate. #220 at most. This will make it easier for the Seasoning to stick.
Now it’s very important to Season your baking steel. Click that last link for excellent information on how to do this.
Just look at that beautiful wood-like texture. So nice.
That is it. That’s all there is to it.
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