Frequently Asked Questions
All ROC Baking Steels are made with the same premium food grade steel. They can all be used on your stove top or in your oven.
The main differences are:
- Shape: Circle, square or rectangle.
- Size: To fit different widths and depths of ovens.
- Thickness: 0.6cm or 1cm
The 0.6 thickness ROC Baking Steel is a lighter and more cost effective option. It will heat up quicker than the 1cm. You can put two 0.6cm on top of each other to create 1.2cm thickness or have one plate sitting on the shelf above the other.
The 1cm thick ROC Baking Steel is heavier (11 kilograms). It takes longer to heat up but stores and releases more heat.
- Styles/Extra features:
- Griddle: offers a groove/grease trap around the perimeter. This is great if you are going to use it on the stove top.
- Easy to handle: Offers three holes for gripping convenience.
The ROC Baking Steel is great for a range of cooking and baking.
You can use it on your stove top for things like pancakes and french toast. You can use it in your oven for bread and pizzas. You can use it with outdoor cooking; in a BBQ as a large hot plate or on a camp fire as a hot plate/fryer.
Have a think about what you are mainly going to use it for and let that guide you. If you think you might use it on your stove top as well as your oven, why not go for the griddle feature. If you are worried about the weight of it, why not go for a thinner thickness or smaller size. It is really based on usability and personal preference. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at hello@rocbakingsteel.com.au
The ROC Baking Steel needs to slide easily onto your oven tray but still allow space around the edges for hot air to circulate.
One of your happy customers passed on a great tip: Cut a piece of cardboard to size to see if the steel will fit in your oven or BBQ. If you do this, please note: it’s okay for the steel to hang over the rack by a couple of centimetres in smaller ovens – as long as the oven door closes it’s okay.
We are a small-scale family owned business and the cost and time involved in custom orders is prohibitive.
Our Easy to Handle 38cm x 36cm x 0.6cm thickness weighs approx 6.5kg
The 1cm thickness ROC Baking Steels weigh around 11 kilograms.
With each use, your ROC Baking Steel darken in colour, starting in spots. This is normal it is due to the process of the oil heating on the steel. After a while, it will be uniformly darker in colour.
Your ROC Baking Steel can be wiped clean with a damp cloth before use and you can use it straight away.
At end of baking please ensure the steel is completely dry.
To Season
After it is completely dry, lightly coat with an edible oil/fat to protect the surface from rust. To season the steel, put a light coat of edible oil onto the dry steel. Heat the coated steel in the oven up to 240 degrees for till oven reaches the temp and then leave to cool down.
After each use please wipe off any food and give it another light coat of oil.
Over time the surface will turn black and it becomes similar to a non stick surface. If you want to learn more about seasoning with different types of oils/fats have a look for tips on seasoning cast iron cookware.
A lot of bakers use baking paper to help get their pizza or bread from bench to the oven and its fine to bake with the paper.
Don’t forget the baking steel gets hot and retains heat so be very careful not to burn yourself.
Keep your steel dry and lightly oiled to prevent rust.
Any prolonged contact with water will rust your ROC Baking Steel. If it does start to develop rust marks or discolouration, this is not a big deal, you can rub oil on it and wipe the rust off.
If it gets very rusty then scrub off and clean with a steel wool scourer or sandpaper, you can use baking soda as a fine grit for cleaning the steel. Once rust is removed, please season your baking steel as this will also help prevent further rust.
Keep the steel dry and oiled to prevent rust.
Unfortunately at this stage we only ship within Australia. The ROC Baking Steels are quite heavy and the costs to ship internationally are prohibitive.
Please use our shipping calculator at checkout to find out the best price to your address.
YES! Originally we created the baking steel to create the perfect pizza crust, but we are finding more and more that people are using it to create artisan bread at home.
The ROC Baking steel is more versatile than a dutch oven – it can be used on the stovetop or outdoor cooking as well as in the oven. It also means that you are not limited to one shape of bread. We also find it easier to transfer the dough from banneton to ROC Baking Steel rather than to the dutch oven.
Many of our customers buy a ROC baking steel because they have previously used a pizza stone and found it has cracked. The ROC Baking Steel will never crack.
Pizza stones are generally very brittle and prone to cracking.
It’s smaller, cheaper and can be used for other things, but the outcome is JUST AS GOOD as a traditional pizza oven. There are some other options that have come on the market recently. These may be a good option for you if you have space in your kitchen to store a large item. However they can only be used for pizza due to the shape and size. ROC Baking Steel however can live inside your oven and is versatile for other uses.
Please contact us with your order number and a note saying you want to return the item, we will create a return reference for you. You are welcome to return using your own shipping method or we can arrange shipping on your behalf if you prefer.
Please remember that we only refund the cost of the product, shipping is non-refundable and return shipping is paid by the customer.
We don’t charge any additional restocking or handling fees, you can see the shipping rates via our courier partner Interparcel at https://interparcel.com.au or Australia Post.
To reduce the cost of return shipping you may return it to Williamstown North, 3016.
Please contact us with your order number and a note saying you want to return the item, we will create a return reference for you. You are welcome to return using your own shipping method or we can arrange shipping on your behalf if you prefer.
Please remember that we only refund the cost of the product, shipping is non-refundable and return shipping is paid by the customer.
We don’t charge any additional restocking or handling fees, you can see the shipping rates via our courier partner Interparcel at https://interparcel.com.au
The return shipping address for quotes is Williamstown North, 3016.
Customer Service
For inquiries, you can reach us via email, Instagram, or voicemail.
Email: hello@rocbakingsteel.com.au
Instagram: @rocbakingsteel
Phone: 03 8644 2761 (Voicemail only; we recommend emailing for a quicker response)