Pizza Stone

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A pizza stone is obviously great for pizza crust, but it's perfect for many other things too. I use it for boule and artisan breads, focaccia and a variety of of other recopies.

When you are making pizza crusts, make sure to preheat the stone. It works best when it's very hot prior to having the dough placed on it.

What other tips and uses for pizza stones do you have?
 
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I love my pizza stone, but... if someone has a tip for cleaning it I'd love to hear! :D
 
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I love my pizza stone, too, but I rarely use it to make pizza! Your tip, SarahRTW, is much appreciated, because NOT preheating the stone is, I think, why my pizza didn't come out right on it. I love using the stone for biscuits and cookies, though. When my oldest son was still at home he actually requested that I bake on that, rather than on traditional metal baking pans.
 
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I love my pizza stone, but... if someone has a tip for cleaning it I'd love to hear! :D


Well, if you're looking for it to be really clean, that might be part of the problem. It's supposed to get a seasoned look and feel to it. That means it get's dark, doesn't stay the light stone color. Once it's cooled I clean mine with clean, running water, and a scrubby with no soap in it. (I'm sure you know soap will ruin it, because the stone is porous) Mine is a dark brown around the outside couple of inches and a lighter brown on the inside...definitely doesn't look like it did the day I purchased it! You can also use a nylon scrapping tool. (Mine is from Pampered Chef and came with the tool.) It gets off bits and pieces if they are stuck on. I still like the idea of running water, though.
 
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Babble is right. I think there is a difference between clean (hygenically speaking) and the look of it (color). I think it is like earning your stripes to have a stone that shows its "mileage". I use mine for many of the same but too would look to hear some interesting uses.
 
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I bought one but ended up never using it. Does the seasoning make it work better or is it just aesthetically pleasing?
 
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Glad my tip helped. The first time I used it, I didn't preheat it. Pizza turned out OK, but not stellar. A foodie I know (my mom's boss) said to always preheat it so its good and hot. Next time, I tried that and bingo. Pizza was *much* better :)

Good tip in return about not using soap! I'll have to remember that.
 
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I bought one but ended up never using it. Does the seasoning make it work better or is it just aesthetically pleasing?


Yes, it's supposed to work better as it gets seasoned. Mine came with instructions to season it lightly at first, or to bake something that had high fat content for the first few times (like crescent rolls or cookies with a lot of butter in them.) After a few uses like that you don't need anything to oil it, because the seasoning process makes it unnecessary. I make my baking powder biscuits on mine now and don't use any oil other than the shortening that's in the dough. They lift right off.
 
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Yes, it's supposed to work better as it gets seasoned. Mine came with instructions to season it lightly at first.

Aaaah, that's good to know. It's possible mine came with insteuctions that I didn't read, I'm bad that way :p
 
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Well, if you're looking for it to be really clean, that might be part of the problem. It's supposed to get a seasoned look and feel to it. That means it get's dark, doesn't stay the light stone color. Once it's cooled I clean mine with clean, running water, and a scrubby with no soap in it. (I'm sure you know soap will ruin it, because the stone is porous) Mine is a dark brown around the outside couple of inches and a lighter brown on the inside...definitely doesn't look like it did the day I purchased it! You can also use a nylon scrapping tool. (Mine is from Pampered Chef and came with the tool.) It gets off bits and pieces if they are stuck on. I still like the idea of running water, though.

That's a very good point. I've never used soap on it because I read you weren't meant to, so I suppose that's what makes me panic about cleaning it! I think I could do with getting a scraper, that would definitely help. I've had problems in the past with pizzas sticking to it (often if it was a thin crust) and I've found that using polenta underneath really helps.
 
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I love using a pizza stone , it gives you that restaurant baked crust. I no longer use a pizza stone because I have had at least three and at some point they have all broken while baking. I don't know if I am doing something wrong or I just bought the wrong ones. Whatever the problem I have just decided to use one anymore.
 
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I used to work at a pizza joint that had a separate oven with a pizza stone base on which we placed the pizzas. We only did minimal work to "clean" them. If I recall correctly, at the end of each night we would crank the heat up on it even higher, to completely cremate any residual dough, sauce and cheese stuck to it, then scrape it clean with a scraping tool. That was it. The scraping was just to get rid of any black burnt debris from getting on the pizza dough.

There is also another option, a "baking steel" which is from what I've heard a 1/4" thick piece of seasoned cut steel. You use it just like a pizza stone, but the big advantage is that it won't crack.

Alton Brown also suggested using cheap terra cotta tiles from the hardware store. They will eventually break, but they are so cheap it doesn't matter.
 
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We have two pizza stones, I bought them from Pampered Chef. Money well spent! My husband does make his own pizzas... but we use our stones for everything... biscuits, chicken tenders... I just don't bake on them or put any raw meat on them.
We love our stones, one has handles which is very convenient!
 

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