Ceramic stones have more heat capacity than steel, and they transfer it more slowly. That might sound bad, but it means that they quickly gave away more of their heat-sending it into the pizza, where it counts. Our temperature tests revealed that while all the models measured 500 degrees after an hour of preheating, the steels’ temperatures dropped faster after receiving the doughs than those of the stone models. Steel and ceramic transfer heat at different rates: Steel is a better heat conductor than ceramic, so baking steels “throw” their heat into doughs much faster, causing them to rise higher and bake and brown more quickly than ceramic baking stones do. Along the way, we evaluated how easy they were to lift and move and how much work is involved in taking care of them.

We also tracked their temperatures to learn more about how the materials they were made from behaved in the oven. The rest were single slabs, with the heaviest weighing a whopping 16 pounds. One model we tested was a set of four small, lightweight tiles (less than 1½ pounds apiece) that are meant to be positioned side by side to make a 15-inch square on the oven rack. Some were simple flat slabs, while others featured built-in handles, holes, or raised feet designed to make them easier to grab and pick up from a flat countertop or oven rack. They ranged in thickness from ¼ inch to more than 1 inch thick.

Five models were made of ceramic and two were made of steel, and all the models were rectangular or square in shape. So we went back to the drawing board, testing seven models, including the new version of our former winner, priced from about $29 to about $99.

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