My mom bought me a fibrament stone for Christmas (thanks mom!), I’ve been using it non-stop for the last two weeks making pizza and bagels mostly. Today I pulled a batch of bagels out (baked for 5 min on bagel boards and then 17 on the stone), and two were stuck to the stone. I had to wiggle them aggressively to get them off, but didn’t scrap the stone w/ a spatula or anything. This is the same bagel recipe I’ve been making weekly for months with no issues - they always slide around perfectly well, I’ve never seen them stick like this!
I just looked at the bottoms of those bagels and they both have what looks like particles of the stone on them.Yikes.
Is that normal?? Is it safe? I’ve been babying this stone, following the directions very carefully, not abrasive tools or cleaning, no oily things…I’m worried the stone is damaged and I’ve been feeding my family cement dust for the last two weeks.
Edited to add a photo
Hi, I’ve got some tips to avoid sticking – I’ve had that situation a few times – and stone care feedback coming soon.
The sticking has happened to me when my dough is extra wet – the water cools the stone and you don’t get that hot-hot no stick phenomenon. So your best bet is to let your bagels dry a tiny bit before loading them into the oven. A few minutes of draining can make a difference.
Also if you’re doing multiple batches, make sure to let the stone heat back up before loading the next batch. If you don’t let it heat back up, then try to bake even longer before flipping the bagels off the boards.
Finally try to flip the bagels onto hot and dry portions of the stone, not stone that was under another board (cooler).
1 Like
Hi @AbleBakerLola We heard back from FibraMent about this issue. The person suggested that perhaps you’d used lye with your bagel boil and that it seeped into the stone rather than evaporated quickly. I think ensuring your stone is super hot is the key, especially with lye (but also with baking soda or malted barley), but let me know if you have any further questions.
When this happened to me, my dough was too wet from a malted barley syrup boil and the stone was on round two without a minute or two of reheating between rounds. I actually had to cut through the bread to detach it, and eventually lay a wet towel over the stone to soften the bread remnants and wash them off.
– Here is the message from FibraMent –
Very sorry to hear this is happening. Most baking stones are porous. It is possible that on this occasion the lye used on the bagels soaked into the stone and then hardened when baked. This then created a “seal” with the bagel that was torn off when the bagel was removed. Your stone should still be fully usable. We recommend wiping if down with a damp rag to remove any loose pieces. You can then use a piece of parchment paper when making bagels in the future to avoid this issue. The parchment paper will minimize the moisture coming in direct contact with the baking stone when the bagels are flipped from the bagel boards to the baking stone.
1 Like
Thank you for the info! I appreciate you reaching out to Fibrament!
I did not use lye in my bagel bath…I use malted barley syrup and/or honey. The bagels were not very wet when I transferred them to the stone from the boards, but I did put them directly on the same spot that the board had been on, so, like you said, it might not have been as hot as it should have been.
My main concern is safety w/ actual pieces of the stone adhering to the bagels…I know the stone is food grade, but…have to assume actually eating the material the stone is made from is a bad idea. Right?
I have another batch of bagels to make tomorrow, so I’ll pay close attention to keep the stone heated.
