• Most pizza stones are porous, and so they conduct heat well just require special care.
  • After allowing your pizza stone to cool, scrape off any residue and wipe down with a damp cloth.
  • Shop information technology directly in the oven if yous like, otherwise, go on it on a apartment surface.

If you're the blazon with a favorite pizza dough recipe and strong feelings about toppings, you likely have a pizza stone or have idea about getting 1.

This durable accessory can bring years and even decades of joy if taken care of properly. But submerging it in water or changing its temperature too quickly could lead to groovy and fragility. But don't worry — caring for it the right way is easy. Tracy Zimmerman, lead chef of the recreational programme at the Institute of Culinary Didactics shares her tips on keeping your pizza stone in summit shape.

What are pizza stones made of?

Pizza stones are more often than not made of ceramic or a super-durable mineral material called cordierite. They can also exist a composite, meaning a mix of several materials or even stainless steel or bandage atomic number 26, which are prized for beingness virtually indestructible.

Your average pizza stone, though, regardless of its exact materials, will be hard and porous — unless information technology'southward made of steel or cast iron. This makes it an fantabulous heat conductor and means it requires a bit of special cleaning.

How to clean a pizza rock

A single slice of olive and anchovy pizza on a pizza stone

Over fourth dimension, a pizza rock will darken and stain, only that doesn't mean it's dingy.
EzumeImages/Getty Images

1. Allow the pizza stone cool completely in the oven. Leaving the stone in the oven allows it to cool more than gradually, putting less stress on the stone as it expands and contracts with temperature changes. Remove information technology once it's all the way cool.

two. Scrape off stuck-on $.25: With a spatula or a potent dry brush, scrape away any residual scraps of food.

3. Wipe down with a damp cloth: Yous want the textile to be wet enough to remove any last bits of residue, merely non so wet that it'll leave a ton of moisture on the board.

Storing a pizza stone

Once your rock is completely cooled, feel free to shop it with your other baking pans. Merely brand sure information technology's on a flat surface so it doesn't pause. Zimmerman stores hers in the oven on the bottom rack. "It does take longer to preheat the oven, just in the end, the oven cooks more evenly," she says.

Insider's takeaway

Ultimately, cleaning a pizza stone is pretty simple. As long as you lot cool it gradually and protect information technology from water, cleaning products, and the force of gravity, you can count on your pizza stone to last you for as long as yous're firing up pizzas.

Christine Clark

Freelance Reporter

Christine Clark is a freelance author who covers specialty food and beverage, especially cheese and vino. She has been in the food and beverage earth for a fiddling under a decade. Christine got her beginning in cheese at Murray's Cheese in New York City, where she ran the educational activity section, education and programming classes on cheese and cheesemaking (everything from wine to mezcal to chocolate to smoked fish was fair cheese-pairing game). Christine is a Certified Cheese Professional with the American Cheese Guild and has taught cheese and pairing classes around the earth. Some of her bylines tin exist found in VinePair, Wine Enthusiast, Epicurious, AllRecipes, The Spruce Eats, Food52, and more and she has been featured as a cheese expert in The New York Times, Bon Appetit, FirstWeFeast, and HuffPost. Learn more about how our team of experts tests and reviews products at Insider hither.