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Cleaning the pizza stone

Unknown
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Anyone suggest how to clean the pizza stone? We just got our egg and tried some pizza last night (yummmm!) Now I have a stone with many black marks on it. Should I try to clean them off, or just leave them?[p]Thanks
... greg

Comments

  • Gregory J. Fleet,
    don't touch it with anything even water! Think of those marks as you call them as battle ribbons for pizza wars won! The coloring will become uniform in time to 100% dark. That stone is sanitary due to the intense heat, so don't worry about it! ^oo^~

  • KennyG
    KennyG Posts: 949
    Gregory J. Fleet,[p]I agree with the kat. A well seasoned (black/brown) stone is a beautiful thing. If you have residue on it such as burnt on cheeze, just gently scrape that off with a putty knife or similiar tool.[p]K~G

  • Mop
    Mop Posts: 496
    My sister has been using pizza stones in her oven for over ten years and much to my dismay I found out she puts it in the dishwasher and has been for all this time.
    After it comes out of the dishwasher she puts it in the oven at 180º to 200º degrees for an hour and it stays snow white all the time.
    She cooks her pizzas at 500º and has never had any problems at all, and it`s not even as high a quality as the BGE stone, although having said that, It must be as high a quality of a stone cause it ain`t never broke...[p]
    SO now I have been doing that with my stone, Mine doesn`t come as white as hers cause I use mine as drip pan/firebrick and everything else but it does come clean and has not cracked......just thought I would run that by ya![p]Mop!

  • Char-Woody
    Char-Woody Posts: 2,642
    KennyG, I use a long bladed kitchen knife and if you hold the angle just right, you also sharpen the blade. :-)
    C~W[p]

  • Gretl
    Gretl Posts: 670
    Gregory J. Fleet,
    My stone's the battle scarred kind; I don't worry about the color. However, I have heard that you can put the pizza stone in a self-cleaning oven and it comes out...well...clean. I have no idea if that method would get rid of black marks. My own assumption is that a 500-600 degree ride in the Egg is sanitary enough.[p]Cheers,
    Gretl

  • djm5x9
    djm5x9 Posts: 1,342
    Mop:[p]Washing a pizza stone with plain water and drying it in an oven is OK. The key is to slowly drive the moisture from the stone before it is subject to high heat. When no steam comes out of the oven when the door is opened the stone is dry. This can take as long as five or six hours depending upon the kind of stone you have. But you never want to wash the stone with soap or you chance having a soapy flavor transfer from the stone to your pizza.
  • RhumAndJerk
    RhumAndJerk Posts: 1,506
    Gregory J. Fleet,
    I would advise against using even water on a ceramics of any kind. A pizza stone will season to a nice black color with years of use similar to cast iron cookware. When the stone gets black, you will notice that not many things stick to it.[p]Some people will clean everything until it looks new, however there are some things that work better when left alone. To me, cast iron and ceramics should be left alone.[p]Also, ceramic is a porous material. If water gets trapped deep inside, the stone could crack or even explode when heated backup.[p]Oh yeah, soap is strictly verboten unless you like Cascade Flavored Crust.[p]Happy Baking,
    RhumAndJerk

  • Mop
    Mop Posts: 496
    Gregory J. Fleet, they are all full of balogna, pitch er in the dishwasher and get on with things.[p]I`ll tell my sister that her 10 year old method won`t work, she`ll be devestated![p]Mop!

  • djm5x9
    djm5x9 Posts: 1,342
    I just want to add that this is not something to do after every use, only if the stone gets soiled in some unusual manner. The oven temperature should be set as low as possible (200º) for drying. Nothing can beat a well-seasoned pizza stone!
  • RhumAndJerk
    RhumAndJerk Posts: 1,506
    Mop,
    Martha Stewart would be proud.
    If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
    If it ain’t dirty, don’t clean it.[p]I am actually impressed with anything that would last through ten years of the level of abuse that a dishwasher can generate. [p]All in fun,
    RhumAndJerk

  • Mop
    Mop Posts: 496
    RhumAndJerk,
    Cheers to ya sir![p]Mop!

  • KennyG
    KennyG Posts: 949
    Char-Woody,[p]Only the ingenious C~W would come up with a way to solve 2 problems with 1 solution. Sure am glad he's a friend of mine.[p]K~G

  • Char-Woody
    Char-Woody Posts: 2,642
    KennyG, :-) We be long time BGE buddies..hey, I took some pics tonight of a desperation Pizza I made.. Might send em to ya for a post, along with a note of how to never make a pizza. Well, almost..I made all the mistakes, and it came out super duper..
    C~W[p]

  • Alan
    Alan Posts: 72
    Gregory J. Fleet,[p]I have a nylon scraper that I just scrape the stone with, and then just wipe it clean with a very lightly oiled paper towel. So far so good. The scraper is of a similar material to the cooking utensils for teflon cookware. I saw a plastic putty knife at Home Despot for .49 that would do as well.[p]Hope this helps,
    Alan