Seasoning a Pizza Stone

gmac

I just got a BGE Large stone.  Last night I was cooking sausages on the egg and was going to make buns in the ovens when I thought hey, why not try baking them on the stone.  So I did.  They stuck, pretty badly.

This got me thinking, is there something that I should do in order to "season" the stone or is there some other method that people use to keep bread dough/pizza crust from sticking to the stone?  I just washed the stone off for its first use and put it on the plate setter, legs up.  500 for about 20 mins and then backed it down to 400 to bake.

Thanks

Serial Griller

For eggs and sausages I'd use a cast iron griddle or pan.Or cook sausages directly  on your grate or with a drip pan under to catch the grease.

When baking bread or pizza use cornmeal on a pizza peel to load your bread.Or...

I use parchment paper under my bread and pizza.

gmac

Serial Griller said:

For eggs and sausages I'd use a cast iron griddle or pan.Or cook sausages directly  on your grate or with a drip pan under to catch the grease.

When baking bread or pizza use cornmeal on a pizza peel to load your bread.Or...

I use parchment paper under my bread and pizza.

Sorry if I was confusing.  I did the sausages after the bread right on the grill.  Sausages on the stone would be a real mess.

DMW

No need to season a stone.

MaskedMarvel

Seasoning the stone might cause more harm than good. Try to keep oils away. Parchment paper and corn meal.

Botch

I accidentally seasoned my stone the first time I used it. (this was in the oven, before I got my Egg).

I pre-heated it 500 degrees for a half-hour, built my pie, very carefully slid it into the oven, and snapped the pie onto the stone.

The sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, and cheeses slid perfectly onto the stone.  The dough did not, it stuck securely to my metal peel.  

There was nothing left to do but turn off the oven, close the door, open the windows, disconnect the smoke detector, and go to Dennie's for dinner.

The next day I actually used a belt sander to clean the stone off.  

Not recommended!  

8-|

nolaegghead

If it's hot enough, dough shouldn't stick.  If it does, use cornmeal, flour or parchment paper.  Oil on a baking stone is no bueno. It will season in time without oil by using it.

curty85

Botch said:

I accidentally seasoned my stone the first time I used it. (this was in the oven, before I got my Egg).

I pre-heated it 500 degrees for a half-hour, built my pie, very carefully slid it into the oven, and snapped the pie onto the stone.

The sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, and cheeses slid perfectly onto the stone.  The dough did not, it stuck securely to my metal peel.  

There was nothing left to do but turn off the oven, close the door, open the windows, disconnect the smoke detector, and go to Dennie's for dinner.

The next day I actually used a belt sander to clean the stone off.  

Not recommended!  

8-|

curty85

Glad Im not the only one.  I ended up with a burnt tomato mess on my pizza stone last night.  First time I used it......I wasnt thinking belt sander but that is why I am on this forum today, to find out what to do.  Lesson Learned.  If you dont have cornmeal in the house, dont bake a pizza.

RiverRatSkier

To clean the stone, scrape off what you can and flip it upside down to let the fire take care of the mess.

Skiddymarker

nolaegghead said:

If it's hot enough, dough shouldn't stick.  If it does, use cornmeal, flour or parchment paper.  Oil on a baking stone is no bueno. It will season in time without oil by using it.

Yes, and use parchment for the first 1/2 dozen cooks until the stone is seasoned. Using parchment will let the crust set up so that when you pull the paper the crust will season the stone "naturally". Soon as the stone gets some colour you can use flour, meal, nothing or keep using parchment, your choice. 

Cookinbob

I always use parchment paper on the stone. Nothing gets deformed because it stuck to the peel, nothing sticks to the stone or needs cleaned afterword.  I dust with corn meal for bread, go naked for pizza. You can pull the paper partway through, but I find the crust is always crispy either way.