Get Your Hands On A Red Clay Bangladeshi Pizza Stone

Who knows pizza better than Bangladesh? Perhaps Italy since they perfected a certain textured crust topped with a heavenly mélange of fresh ripe tomato, cured meats and cheeses, and any fresh vegetable you can imagine. But Bangladesh is home to the forefather of pizza like the Middle Eastern flatbread that's been baking in wood fired ovens well before BCE.

Promoting this hot stone Bangladeshi cookery steeped in tradition, Ten Thousand Villages, a leading source of Fair Trade artisan crafts from around the world, is now selling Terra Cotta pizza stones. These stones are the real deal, circular hand formed red clay perfectly sized for a lunch for two or if you're really hungry, a personal pizza.

In keeping with the essence of simplicity that has made this stone so treasured across the centuries, follow these simple steps when making your own pizza:

  1. Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to the highest temperature possible.
  2. Remove stone (with oven mitt or OUCH!), sprinkle with corn meal, and spread dough across stone, being sure not to burn your fingers.
  3. Spread your toppings and bake in oven until both crust and toppings are golden brown. If the hue is approaching black, you're done.
  4. Be sure to have an oven mitt and spatula on hand for serving.