How to Clean Your Pizza Stone The Right Way
You may be a mom chef to some picky eaters or a bachelor who likes to have pizza on game nights or at jam seshes. Perhaps you’re a professional pizza baker who loves to create gourmet pizza dishes for loved ones when you’re not working!
Whatever the case, if you’re a true pizza enthusiast, you’ve probably already recognized the importance of having a pizza stone in your kitchen toolbelt. Pizza stones help imitate the effects of a real brick pizza oven. They work fantastically due to their porous surface, which absorbs and retains heat as well as draws excess moisture from the pizza dough to create a mouthwatering crispy crust.
Pizza stones do, however, require some unique care to keep them in good condition bake after bake. Below, we’ve laid out the details you need for properly cleaning a pizza stone!
Prior to Using Your Pizza Stone
Before we get to the cleaning details, there are some things you should know about your pizza stone before you even bake with it!
Avoid Oils
Upon taking it out of the box, your stone will be nice and new, with no scratches or seasonings. When you’re ready to cook with it, you may feel tempted to rub some oil on it, as you do when cooking most things. We’re here to tell you – don’t! Using oil on your stone may cause it to smoke or burn while heating up.
Instead, allow your stone to develop a natural coat of seasonings. This will occur after using it a few times and will add some flavor to future pizzas.
Gradual Heat
Before you even think about placing your dough onto your pizza stone, stick it into your cold oven and allow the stone to heat up gradually with your oven until it reaches the desired temperature. If you place your cold pizza stone into an already-hot oven, the chances of cracking are more likely, which will render it useless.
After Baking
Immediately after using your stone, you may feel inclined to clean it with the rest of your kitchen materials. However, because pizza stones retain heat so well, you’ll have to wait a few hours until it has completely cooled down before touching it.
Once it’s cool, you may clean it, but first, keep in mind the following:
- – Never use soap – the pores in the stone will absorb it, and you may end up tasting it in your future pizzas.
- – Do not submerge your stone in water – again, the pores will absorb it! To get the water out, it’ll take a full baking cycle and end up wasting your electricity and energy.
What You’ll Need
A clean pizza stone requires the following typical household materials:
- – Spatula (plastic, not metal)
- – Soft Cloth
- – Baking Soda
- – Water
- – Stiff-bristle brush (stone brush or toothbrush)
The Cleaning Process
In the following simple steps, you’ll learn how to clean a pizza stone:
- Lightly scrape: Using your spatula, gently scrape the stone surface to dislodge any stuck food pieces or melted cheese. Be careful not to use a knife or metal utensil, since this will cause unwanted scratches.
- Wipe it down: Take your soft cloth and use it to wipe away any remaining food.
- Make a cleaning paste: If after you’ve wiped your stone, you still have some crusted food remaining, you can spot treat them using a homemade paste. Simply mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda with some water.
- Scrub: Using your paste, apply a tiny amount to the desired spot and gently scrub in a circular motion with your brush.
- Wipe again: This time, dampen your cloth slightly and then wipe away your pasty spots.
- Cook-off stubborn pieces: Even after you’ve spot-cleaned, some food might still be stuck on your stone. If this is the case, just turn up your oven to 500°F and place your stone inside for an hour. This will allow it to cook off any stubborn foods.
- Allow it to dry: Before you use your stone again, let it dry completely for 1 to 2 hours.
Cleaning a pizza stone isn’t hard – we promise! It may seem like a lot of steps, but after a couple of times cleaning it, it’ll become second nature.
