Mumsnet Talk

Have just been to a Pampered Chef party. I liked the idea of the stoneware but was put off by the not washing aspect and the way it goes all brown. I have been invited to another - shall I buy or stick to the stuff I've already got. I liked the idea of doing sausages in it and them browning all over without having to turn and similarly pastry browning on underside of base.
Anyone got any stoneware, any views?

I have both the rectangular bakers and the pizza stone.
Love them , one of my bakers is really brown. I do tend to rinse them off tbh.
The bakers make great roast potatoes or chips without adding any oil etc
The pizza one leaves the bases really crispy. My best pampered chef products definately.

You can wash the Stoneware if you want to, it just won't get the 'non stick effect'. I quite often wash mine, it does still go brown though just more slowly. I mostly use mine for roast vegetables, sausages and sausage rolls.

I have also done potato wedges and eggs in them.

I have the bar pan and it gets used most days as dd2 loves potato weges and fish fingers/sausages.

Love the stoneware, in fact have chucked out quite a lot of my tins as I get more. I always wash mine in warm water, scrape the gunk off and away you go. Its only soap that you musn't put on them , water is fine. The nice thing is you never get any crusty bits left on them, so although they go a different colour they feel like glass to the touch as the get used more and more. Wonderful things. I use the medium bar pan most, also small bar pan and rectangular baker. If you are a family of 4 why not go for the medium bar pan and see what you think. Wedges are lovely on it and you can get away with minimum oil.

I bought a pizza stone but didn't get round to using it and can't remember what on earth you are supposed to do now. If anyone knows, please share!

You are supposed to wash your stone wear but only with water. I have one and will get more when my tins have died a death.

When I first get one I also make sure I cook more fatty things on it at first which helps to season it. I always do sausages a few times first. Also use my medium bar pan for flap jack and a sort of date shortbread thing. As the pan has been used for quite a while I don't even bother greasing it first now. I could talk about them for hours which only proves that I have no life

It can be a love or hate thing though. One of my friends can't stand to touch them. She goes all goosepimply (bit like the whole fingernails on blackboard thing). I actually watched all the hairs on her arm stand up as she picked it up. She brought one but gave up on it quite quickly as it was torture putting it the oven!!

I really like my stoneware. I've got a shallow baking tray and a pizza stone. They do turn brown quite quickly with use, but don't let that put you off. The best thing is they become more non-stick the more you use them. They cook things very evenly and then keep them warm for a while after you take them out of the oven. I do wash them, the first few times you use them, I think it's best not to use washing up liquid, just water. But if they get really grubby then a bit of washing up liquid won't do any harm. Especially if they are quite well used and smooth and dark.

So do you just put the pizza stone in the oven and stick the pizza on top? Do you need to season it first? What temperature?

I love my stonewear too. I've got a small bar pan and larger dish and both get used several times a week. Have even bought one for MIL for Christmas.

I can highly recommend their metal sheet pans too. They are new out, got mine couple of weeks ago and are also brilliant for chips, pastry etc but fraction of the price.

Cook pizza as per instructions. You always put it on the stone then in the oven. Never put an empty stone in a hot over, must always have something on it. I much prefer it for pizza, always find the pizza starts to collapse on the oven bars somethimes. If its a first use I would maybe put some oil on a piece of kitchen paper and just wipe over. You could do wedges on it as well if you just spritzed oil over them rather than have it running off the edges.

Don't need to season as such but wipe a bit of oil round it first just in case. Then put pizza on it.

BTW Edam did you go to N Wales for term? Weather was lovely <WAP looks like stalker>

thank you, will dig it out tonight and report back!

WAP, golly, had forgotten we talked on that thread. Yup, we went and had a lovely time in the rain and the wind. (But you don't really go to N Wales in October expecting sunshine, do you?)

Wind on Black Rock beach was so strong my ears were hurting after five minutes!

Did all the lovely stuff I remembered from my own childhood. Bored the pants off the poor man in the shop on Harbour Station in Porthmadog reminiscing about my childhood opening crossing gates.

Drove home by a route I'd never taken before, via Dolgellau, and it was breath-takingly gorgeous.

(We only went for the weekend, had one day of sunshine, one of rain, one of wind!)

Ah you see Anglesey was lovely that whole week but our side was very windy for first few days too. Not sure why this was such a surprise given area reknowned for wind surfing...Glad my prophecies about the weather not too far off mark though!

I know the route you mean and is just stunning.

Anyway sorry about the hijack OP

I adore my small bar pan. I give it a soak in hot water so it hasn't got very brown. The best thing is roasting a joint in it, the meat stays so tender and moist compared to in a normal pan. The rest of the Pampered Chef stuff is overpriced guff (hope my friend/local rep isn't reading this) but the stoneware is worth every penny!

oops yes sorry renaissance.

WAP, when I was a kid living in Yorkshire we'd drive over Ysbyty Ifan or via Bala which are also gorgeous. Had never been to Dolgellau so it was an incredible experience.

Skip, I reckon most of the Pampered Chef stuff you can get from Lakeland at half the price. But will be trying out this pizza stone.

Ah, well I became allergic to Lakeland when they started sending me their bloody catalogues billions of times a month! I'll have to get over myself and look at their website - time to hide the credit card...

Have only one product from Pampered Chef but cannot recommend it highly enough - it's the ice cream scoop.

Utterly fabulous with really hard ice cream
(not that I'm having too much of that in this weather!)

Oh yes, I do have the ice cream scoop and it is fine. And the wooden tongs for taking things that are stuck out of toasters without electrocuting yourself. (Or turning sausages if you are veggie and don't want to touch meat but have an omnivorous child.)

OK I am now convinced by the stoneware and will indulge myself at the next party I go to. I plan to get the pizza plate (I loved the nutty apple pastry the demonstrator did on it, so easy and tasted fab), medium bar plate and pie plate (in case I ever get round to making a pie). I wish I'd got some already as I am doing apple strudel for tomorrow, never mind the stuff is 20% off in January. I did get the garlic press which looked amazing - you put whole cloves in, skin and root, then squeeze and the clove gets pierced and pureed garlic comes out. In fact I got 5 - to give as Christmas presents - I do love a new gadget at Christmas! Another recommendation is Jardin de France secateurs and loppers etc, they are amazing and so easy (especially for girls) to use.
Thanks for your recommendations.

stone wear is amazing and makes the best roast potatoes in the world!

I have one - who knows what it's called, but it's square and kind of medium sized. I use it every day for almost anything that goes in the oven and I would get some more although it is pricey.

I also have the bamboo tongs and use them daily, but the choppy thing is going dusty in a cupboard.