Shogun Pizza Steel Baking Sheet-"The Shogun"-15" x 15" x 3/8"-24 -pound carbon steel, Made in USA, great for creating a Wood-Fired Oven crust in your own home!

Wow . . . what a difference this product makes. I have taken up the challenge of mastering the "make at home pizza." I have spent weeks (not just hours) researching pizza stones and steel, baking sheets, mats, and of course dough recipes and ingredients. Coughing up $80 for a pizza steel (shipping and steel price) took me several days to stomach. Stones work, but the experts kept saying that carbon steel (this product) is your best shot at a professional quality pizza.And they were RIGHT. I like my pizza stones, but I *LOVE* my 3/8th inch dough-joe ("the Shogun"). I will forget how much money I spent on this thing in a few months, but this is a kitchen utensil that will last a lifetime of killer pizzas. Unlike my pizza stones this accepts my 550 degree oven temperature and laughs at it. Hotter *is* better when making pizza, and to get these extreme temperatures you need steel; there simply is no substitute. It is heavy, so much so that it is generally best to leave it in the oven if possible. It won't bend your oven racks (it is lighter than a large stuffed roasted turkey), but it feels like it when you first lift it.I absolutely promise you that this steel will make you happy if you follow the instructions. The trick is to let it preheat for 60 minutes at the highest (safe) temperature your oven can go to. It is pre-seasoned, so all you have to do is wipe the cardboard fluff off and pop it in the oven; the heat will do the rest. I just got a relatively cheap "in-oven thermometer," one that hangs on the rack. This helps a lot, because it shows you the actual temperature of your oven, not what the "hopeful" digital readout at the top of your oven might say. You need to make sure that your oven is ridiculously hot for a great pizza, and the heat transfer from carbon steel (into your crust) is what makes a great crust. At this temperature your pizza will cook in minutes.I have read from some experts to turn the oven off the moment you pop your pizza in the oven and turn on the broiler so that you cook the toppings, not just the crust. I have had success with this, but this is part of the joy of pizza making at home. You need to experiment a bit to find your oven's perfect method. All of that aside, I am never going back to stones again. Pizza steel is the ONLY way to go if you want to make pizza at home that rivals the best pies in town. Totally worth the cost + shipping. I recommend the 3/8th thickness for best results, unless you want to get the 1/2" thick monster, but beware that is super-heavy. Thanks for reading. I will do my best to answer any questions if you have any :-)

First off, this thing is amazing and downright beautiful. When others described how heavy it was, it just didn't click. I am a big guy who works out so when I saw that this thing weighed 24lbs, I didn't think much of it. I was shocked when the UPS driver dropped it off! You just don't expect it to weigh that much.My journey started with buying a pizza stone to make Chicago style deep dish pizza like Giordanos. I am from Chicago and miss it. Besides, we are all on lock down here and I was bored. If you read the reviews here, there are a ton of people looking for a replacement for their pizza stone. They either crack and in some cases, just explode in the oven. Well, I wasn't having none of that. Besides, a good stone is $60-80.That rabbit hole got me here, looking at this slab of steel...only it isn't, well kinda. I saw steel plates being sold on Amazon and some people did use them for pizza. They also came with a protective coating (gel) along with a bunch of other chemicals that needed to be burned off before using. Even then, I doubted my 500° oven would be capable of burning it all off, let alone the toxic gas. Even if it could, my mind would always think differently. Nope, not happening.This thing has a beautiful matte finish that is pre-seasoned. It is downright sexy and came nicely packaged. The instructions warned that if there is a nick or blemish, not to worry about it. Well, mine had a slight nick on the finish and I didn't worry for a second about it. I just slapped on some olive oil and popped it in the oven. I mean, it's steel. It isn't going to hurt anything.Ok, back to the Chicago style pizza. I had the 2' pans, a great recipe and everything else. I was destined, for success, right? One would think. The problem was that the bottom crust was coming out soggy. Yes, I used low moisture mozzarella cheese (The only acceptable cheese, IMO. You can keep that Provel all to yourself! LOL). It was for this reason, and this reason only, that I went looking for a pizza stone. The pan on the rack just couldn't heat the bottom quickly enough to keep the crust from getting soggy. Spoiler alert...This steel was the answer. The crust was beautiful on the bottom! I mean. like seriously amazing.Ok, now the hard part for me was choosing the thickness of this steel I wanted and I actually gave it a lot of thought. . When I ordered mine, there were 3 options. 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2". I chose the 3/8" and unlike most of my life decisions, I got this one right. Here is why...The 1/4"... I immediately dismissed this one because it was the thinnest and the least expensive. In hindsight, after receiving my steel, I realize that is probably still awesome and would cook my pizza just as good. Coming in at "Only" 16lbs, you could easily store it without worrying about it warping wherever you store it (Cabinet, closet,..etc...). Honestly, you would probably just keep it in the oven. Let's face it, as much as we love our pizzas, we are not a pizzeria. This thing could easily handle 10 pizzas in a short amount of time.The 1/2"...I really, really wanted this. The price had absolutely nothing to do with it. I'll My oven is only 2 years old and I didn't want it to look like it was 80yrs old with a sagging rack because this thing weighs in at a hefty 32lbs. Sure, you can cook a 32lb turkey and the oven racks will support it just fine but you are not going to leave it in your oven for weeks at a time. In hindsight, I am still glad I went with the 3/8". 32lbs does not sound like a lot but where do you store it? I mean, I don't think the oven rack would sag much at all if you just left it in but you do have to take it out and clean it once in a while. It would surely dent a stainless steel sink or chip porcelain if you were not very careful and strong.The 3/8"...The absolute sweet spot! At 24lbs this thing is a beast while still manageable. Again, you just can't perceive the weight of this dense steel plate when you look at it. It just doesn't make sense. Heck, it won't make sense until you see for yourself. I surely didn't believe it. With the 3/8" I just leave in my oven all the time. When it comes time to clean it, I will put a towel down to keep from damaging my counter top but it is still manageable.Why keep it in my oven? This thing retains some serious heat! 3 hours after turning off the oven, this thing is still hot (I had the oven at 500°)! The oven was still very warm. I mean, it won't burn you after that long but you still wouldn't want to pick it up barehanded for any length of time. This was another reason I am glad I didn't get the 1/2". I can't imagine how long it would take to cool down.Lastly, let's talk about the Dough-Joe company, itself. I knew nothing about them, at all, before finding them here. They are a US company in South Dakota so I am all about that. I have been to South Dakota and all I have to say is that it takes a special kind of person to live there. There are other baking steels on the market but I can't believe they could have better quality than this. The best part? I think as soon as I hit the button to place my order, the UPS guy was knocking at my door. Ok, it wasn't that fast but it took only 3 days when I am still waiting weeks for "Non-essential" items to be shipped.Anyway, if you are thinking about buying this...do it! I promise, you not have one ounce of remorse. It is really that good.I hope this helps!

I've had this for a few weeks now and have so far enjoyed everything I've thrown on here from breads to pizza.The steel transfers an incredible amount of heat into whatever you place on top which allows for rapid cooking with beautiful charring for pizzas. I've made pizzas in everything from your standard baking sheet, perforated pizza pans, cast iron skillets, and pizza stones, but this piece of steel blows them out of the water.Unlike a stone, you don't have to worry about the thing shattering on you if you accidentally apply heat after it gets wet (or if you dropped it off of a hotel balcony, for that matter). And while stones do, in fact, have decent thermal capacity for cooking pizzas, the steel is still unmatched. That being said, you don't really want to leave this thing wet for any extended period, as rust can be a problem. Otherwise, care requires very minimal effort - simply allow it to cool, and wipe or scrape off whatever junk remains from your pizza crust, and toss it back into the oven; that's it.An obvious complaint some may have is the weight, but I actually appreciate the substantial durable feel to it, as compared to stones. And as an added bonus, you're only a couple dozen of these steels & a Jeep Wrangler away from a makeshift zombie apocalypse cruiser.The only con I could come up with is the fact the steel does require some patience before it's ready to use. This steel really shines after it's been preheating for about 45 minutes or so in an oven that's been set to as high of a temperature as it will allow (typically between 500-550 F for most home ovens in the US).Bottom line: Buy it. It's incredible and your pizzas will never be the same.