Serves: 5

Breads baked in professional ovens are often placed directly on heavy stones to create a crisp, brown crust. You can do the same in your oven by using a bread stone, pizza stone or unglazed baking tiles available in cookware shops. Let the stone heat in the oven for at least 20 to 30 minutes. (Don’t place a cold stone in a hot oven because it may crack new stones may need to be seasoned by heating at a low temperature once or twice before using it at high temperatures--check the directions that came with your stone.)

Sprinkle cornmeal over the stone. Carefully slide the unbaked loaf--just the dough, not dough in a bread pan--directly onto the hot stone by sliding it from a cookie sheet or using a baker’s wooden paddle called a pelle. After baking, the stone will be very hot let it cool in the oven before moving it.

From "Betty Crocker's Complete Cookbook, Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, 9th Edition." Text Copyright 2000 General Mills, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

More Recipes from the Betty Crocker's Cookbook, 9th Edition Cookbook:
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BAKING STONES AND TILES
Baking Powder Biscuits
Banana Bread
Banana-Pecan Pancakes
Blueberry Muffins
Bran Muffins
Caramel Sticky Rolls
Cheese-Onion Bread
Chocolate Chip Muffins
Cinnamon-Raisin-Walnut Wheat Bread
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Crepes
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Dinner Rolls
Dumplings
Easy Garlic-Cheese Biscuits
Focaccia
Four-Grain Batter Bread
French Bread
French Toast
Fresh Herb Batter Bread
Garlic Bread
HOW TO MAKE BISCUITS
HOW TO MAKE YEAST DOUGH
Herb Buns
Honey Whole Wheat Bread
Jalapeño Corn Bread
MISTING AND CREATING STEAM
Mediterranean Herbed Bread
Multigrain Loaf
Oatmeal-Molasses Bread
Pancakes
Popovers
Praline Pan Biscuits
Puffy Oven Pancake
QUICK BREAD BASICS
Raisin-Cinnamon Bread
Rich Egg Bread
Scones
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Sourdough Bread
Sourdough Starter
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Streusel Topping
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TIPS FOR BISCUITS
TIPS FOR BREAD MACHINE BREADS
TIPS FOR NUT BREADS
TIPS FOR PANCAKES AND FRENCH TOAST
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Traditional White Bread
Waffles
Whole Wheat Bread
YEAST BREAD BASICS
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