My Welsh girlfriend has inherited a bakestone, which is a reeeeally heavy, flat cast iron pan which is traditionally used to make welsh cakes (think stodgy scones). It looks like this, only thicker and with two handles.
We have no idea how old this thing is - it was certainly her grandmother’s and could go way back from there, it looks like the sort of thing you might find in an archeological dig of a medieval house.
It’s rusty and needs some heavy duty cleaning and seasoning before it’s back to operational (I’m happy to google how to do this unless a doper wants to step forward), but I’m really looking for ideas of what to use it for. I’m not a great baker and don’t have much of a sweet tooth so can’t imagine making welsh cakes. So far I’ve got pancakes… and that’s about it. It’s VERY heavy, so even making pancakes with it would be hassle.
Use it has a pizza stone perhaps? Any other ideas?
No need to google, there’s a link on that page with instructions for seasoning a bakestone.
Seems to me that anybody with a modern gas or electric oven doesn’t really have a use for this.
But it would be a lot of fun to use and with practice might produce a superior product, since you can see what the food looks like.
Best use might be to clean it up, try it out, then sell it to a cooking enthusiast.
Because before they were made of iron, they were made of the flattest stone you could find, ground smooth with sand and another stone and a lot of your youngest child’s elbow grease. Cooking on flat stones is a campfire cooking technique still used today, and when people brought the hearth inside, they brought the stone inside. When casting iron became practical, they began making bakestones out of iron, 'cause it didn’t require so much work to smooth and clean it. Cast iron is the original “nonstick” cookware.
I’d use it as a heat sink in my oven. Just stick it in there to let it absorb and give off heat and keep the heat more even than my sucky thermostat allows. Pizzas would go on there when I want the crust crispy, and breads and flatbreads can bake right on it.
If you have a slow simmer stovetop dish, like a stew or a stock, you can put the bakestone over a burner or burners and use it as a flame tamer. Just put it on the burner and your pot on top of it. It’s the heat sink idea again - it will keep the heat more even and reduce overheating beyond a simmer or scorching of the contents of the pot or pan.
I know what you mean, pancakes would be much easier in a frying pan, for instance. Can’t sell it - it’s become an heirloom (albeit a sentimental rather than valuable one).
That’s pretty much exactly what I’d do with it. Just for fun, I might also pull it out from time to time after looking up some traditional Welsh dishes that make use of the stone.
Pretty cool heirloom to have. I love cast iron stuff. I’m not sure I can have enough of it. I have 3 cast iron pans, 3 cast iron dutch ovens (two enameled), and a cast iron pizza “stone.”
It’s cast iron so yeah, should be okay for that. The issue might be, assuming it doesn’t have any sort of ridge, fat or liquid running off. That would be the only thing that would make it perhaps not-ideal, but cast iron is phenomenal for searing.
Not the worst idea I’ve ever heard (in Brit speak, that means a good idea ;)). It could make a nice side table, for a lamp or something. What to use for legs…hmmm
Yeah, a piece that cool and unique I’d incorporate into some kind of arrangement or setting in the kitchen or dining room. Maybe a table centerpiece to put seasonings and napkins on or with candles and flowers. I’d never heard of a Welsh bakestone before but now I want one!
Since it’s cast iron, how about the bottom part of an old-fashioned treadle sewing machine? Or, for modern, something industrial that’s thick and stark. (Because of the weight.)
I love “making stuff out of other stuff.” I can’t imagine the wealth of goodies that could be found over there. Here in Florida people regularly set nice but unwanted things out on the curb. Being from East Tennessee originally, I call it hillbilly bait and drag stuff home to tinker with all the time.
I love “making stuff out of other stuff.” I can’t imagine the wealth of goodies that could be found over there. Here in Florida people regularly set nice but unwanted things out on the curb. Being from East Tennessee originally, I call it hillbilly bait and drag stuff home to tinker with all the time.