A pizza stone is an essential cooking tool for food enthusiasts who want to make pizzas at home, but if this is the first time you are using this type of device, then you may have some questions.
One of the most common musings of people cooking their food on a pizza stone is how to care for it and whether you should put oil onto the stone.
Using a pizza stone is simple because they are usually non-stick, so there is no need to put olive oil on the stone.
In this post, we are going to be looking at how to use a pizza stone and the best ways to ensure that it is well maintained, including what happens when you grease the pizza stone.
When you use a pizza stone, sometimes called a baking stone, you will achieve a tasty pizza with a fluffy crust and crispt base as well as toppings that are evenly cooked. They are great in a fire brick oven and take your recipes from just OK to incredible.
How Do You Keep Pizza From Sticking To A Pizza Stone?
One of the things that trouble pizza enthusiasts the world over is how to stop their pizzas from sticking to the pizza stone. It is a common misunderstanding that you should add a little oil to the pizza stone, this will indeed prevent the pizzas from sticking, but it certainly won’t help the pizza stones.
If you grease pizza stones and then put the stone in the oven, this will cause a lot of smoke. This is simply how oil reacts when faced with high levels of heat, and there is nothing you can do to stop this because you need a hot oven to cook your pizzas.
Furthermore, if you do not clean your pizza stone in between uses, there will be a build-up of oils, sometimes called a non-stick patina which is good for certain types of cooking. However, with pizza stones, this will result in the pizzas tasting burnt.
Pizza stones are porous by nature, and when you keep oiling before using a pizza stone, this will eventually remove the coating which will cause the pizza to stick all the more as well as taking away the porous nature. This means that when you place your pizza stone into the oven, it will not be able to absorb the moisture from the pizza, leaving the base soggy.
If you don’t want your pizza to stick to the stone, you could try using a baking sheet as these are designed to prevent this from happening. These cookie sheet liners can also be used on a cast iron pan if you aren’t a member of the pizza stone fan club and prefer a metal piece of cooking equipment.
Another great way to avoid pizza sticking to the stone is to add a little flour to the stone. You could also put a dusting of flour across your pizza peel to prevent the food from sticking before it has even made contact with the stone.
Are You Supposed To Preheat A Pizza Stone?
You cannot cook pizza in a cold oven; the oven must be at maximum heat to get that fluffy pizza crust. In the same way that you would heat your kitchen grill or other types of ovens, a pizza oven must be allowed to heat up to the correct temperature before anything goes inside.
You must also allow your pizza stone to heat up in the oven as well because not doing so can mean that it will crack. If you put a cold pizza stone into a high-temperature oven or grill, the pizza stone will experience thermal shock, and it will crack.
What’s more, you can only cook pizza dough properly on a hot stone; this will give quick and even cooking and a perfect crust every time. Pizza stones must be hot prior to cooking, and you should never place pizza on a cold tile – you just won’t get the dough to rise effectively.
How Do You Maintain A Pizza Stone?
Cleaning your pizza stone is important, but many people make the mistake of simply popping it back in the warm oven when cooking is over. This sort of maintenance will reduce the life of the stone so you must make sure that you clean it frequently.
One of the best tips for taking good care of your pizza stone is that it does not need to be cleaned after every use but every couple of uses if fine. Don’t try to wash a hot stone; you should let it cool before cleaning it. There is a common misconception that you should let your pizza stone soak in warm water, but these stones are porous and will soak up the water. They will then need to dry for a long time, and if there is any water left in them when you return them to the hot grill or oven, they will likely crack due to the hot temperature.
Many people will use the oven self-cleaning cycle, and this will work well, but there is a better method – take a look at these handy pizza stone cleaning tips.
- Before you clean the pizza stone, scrape off any burnt-on food. You can take the pizza stone out of the oven using a pizza peel or pizza paddle as it will be very hot. You might also use an oven glove for added protection.
- Removing the residue can be done using a dough scraper, or if you do not have a dough scraper, a knife will work just as well.
- You can then scrub the pizza stone to remove any smaller pieces of debris, and you may use a little warm water here but do not use any sort of detergent as this could cause damage to the stone.
If you follow these instructions carefully, you should be able to use a pizza stone for a long time without having to replace it.
Aside from cleaning your stone and avoiding using oils on it, there are other things you can do to effectively care for the stone. One of the most frequently asked questions is whether you need to season your stone before putting the pizza onto it.
As we have discussed if you season your stone with oil or anything else, this will cause damage over time, so it is important not to season it. Most stones will come ready to cook and are designed to go into a grill at a high temperature without being damaged, adding oil will cause it to smoke, and your pizza will end up not tasting as good as you would expect.
Conclusion
There are so many pizza recipes out there from a good old Margherita to a popcorn chicken recipe for pizza that will blow your mind but cooking this type of meal requires careful attention and the right equipment if you want the perfect crust.
A pizza stone is used in the oven to place the pizza on, and the high heat of these tools will quickly cook the pizza delivering a crispt base, fluffy crust and perfectly cooked toppings. But this equipment needs to be cared for properly.
People wonder whether they should season their stone or add oil to it, but this is not necessary. Putting this kind of thing onto a stone will cause it to burn and potentially become damaged. The stone designed to withstand hot temperatures and so that the pizza will not stick – it does not need any extra help with this.
There are certain things that you should keep in mind when caring for your stone as this will affect how long it lasts. For example, you should never put a cold stone into a hot oven; it should be allowed to heat up with it. What’s more, your stone should never be immersed in water and should be cleaned using dry utensils and just a damp cloth if moisture is needed to remove stubborn marks.
