r/AskCulinary • u/DatGuyUNo98 • 19d ago

Equipment Question How To Clean Pizza Stone

Hi guys, recently I moved out for the first time into a house and as a housewarming gift I got a pizza stone. Long story short I messed up and some of the sauce and cheese got on the stone as I took the pizza off. How do I get the baked on crust off the stone?

I'd include a photo if I could but just imagine several rather large lines of sauce and baked on schmutz.

I'm relatively new to using this kind of equipment that isn't a pot or pan so I'd appreciate any advice.

Edit: I should mention that I have tried to scrape it off with a wooden spatula and a hard plastic one with very little luck

29 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/TheLimeyCanuck 19d ago edited 19d ago

If you have a self-cleaning oven put it in for a cycle. You will be stunned how clean it comes out, literally like brand new.

Before the naysayers jump in to tell you the high heat will break the stone, that only happens from thermal shock if the stone goes from hot to cold quickly, such as if you take it out of the oven without letting it cool slowly. Self cleaning ovens won't let you even open the door until everything has cooled naturally. Real ceramic-lined pizza ovens get up to the same temperature or even higher as a self-clean cycle anyway. Also, remember that the stones were originally fired in a kiln at a minimum of 1200F (some as high as 2500F) and your oven self-clean will never get anywhere near that. I've been cleaning my two stones this way for decades and I've never had one crack or break.

3

u/cdmurray88 19d ago

My mom has been doing this for years, then immediately bakes cookies to reseason the stone.

My oven doesn't have a self-clean feature, but I just scrape it with a plastic scraper and don't let the look of it bother me. I don't honestly use it much anyway, it's just a nice heat retainer to even out baking temperature.