How To Clean A Pizza Stone To Get Rid Of Leftover Crumbs And Residue

Pizza stones are practically magic. They're a tool that can somehow take a traditional oven and turn it into the closest thing to an artisan pizza oven without having to set foot in Italy. But pizza stones can be expensive, and the better care you take of your product, the longer it will last. That's why you always want to clean it as well as possible after every use, which means just three easy steps: cool it, scrape it, and wipe it — the perfect remedy for getting it to last years.

You should never work with a pizza stone that's too hot, or you'll risk burning yourself and could wind up breaking or cracking the stone. Make sure it cools completely before attempting to scrape off any remaining crumbs. Once you scrape it, you can wipe it down, but there's a trick to making sure you do it right: Don't use too much water.

First, you need to make sure the stone is completely cooled. Pizza stones heat to the same temperature as your oven. Depending on how hot you're cooking your pizza, that stone could be up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit by the time your dinner finishes cooking. Besides the danger of burning yourself, pizza stones are often made from ceramic or a similar material, meaning if they are hot and come in contact with a cold object (such as water), the quick change in temperature could cause them to break.

Once the stone has completely cooled, then you can move on to step two: scrape it. You want to make sure you remove any stuck-on crumbs or cheese with a spatula or similar cooking tool. This will make it easier to wipe down the pizza stone. From there, move on to wiping it down. This just requires a damp cloth, which you'll then wipe all along the stone to clean up any final remnants. Make sure the cloth isn't over-saturated with water. A cloth that's too wet will transfer too much water to the stone, which just means a much longer drying process.

Here's something you might not know: The best way to store a pizza stone is to just leave it in the oven. If you do this, there's a few reasons it's beneficial. First and foremost, it means you don't have to find additional storage for the stone. But beyond that, the pizza stone will help regulate your oven's temperature.

Whenever you open your oven, heat is released, and that causes the overall oven temperature to drop. This makes your food take longer to cook. However, when you leave the pizza stone in there and allow it to heat up with the oven, the stone remains extremely hot even if you open the oven door while something is cooking. With the hot stone in there, the oven's air temperature won't cool as quickly, meaning the temperature stays pretty even despite opening the oven a few times. It's a great way to make sure anything you cook is cooked properly. 

Just place the stone on the baking rack you aren't using, and let it work its heated magic.