My fondness for pizza stones began many years ago. Like many people, I thought it would be fun to create my own pizzas at home. I began my homemade pizza adventure using a cookie sheet to lay out the dough. But I found that the pizza cooked unevenly, leading to dried-out toppings with unevenly cooked crusts. Then I learned about pizza stones, also known as baking stones.
Pizza stones are flat, heavy, unglazed stones that usually come in either round or rectangular shapes. Their main advantage is that they help to distribute the heat of the oven evenly to your pizza or other baked good, and their porous nature helps to absorb excess moisture creating a crisper crust.
The normal procedure is to put the pizza stone in a cold oven, and preheat the oven to the recommended temperature. Then you build your pizza on a pizza peel (the large, flat, wooden device with a long handle you see in pizza parlors), and shake the pizza onto the preheated stone. In order to do this you must be sure to put cornmeal onto the peel first so that the pizza doesn't stick. It also helps if you don't make the pizza too heavy. I've had more than my share of squished pizzas that didn't come off the peel very neatly! To do this correctly takes practice.
When you first purchase your pizza stone it has a very rough surface. Some manufacturers will recommend that you season it as you would a cast iron pot. Even if you don't deliberately season it, seasoning will occur naturally over time if you follow the correct cleaning procedure. The first step in cleaning your stone, after allowing it to cool, is to scrape off any food residue. Then simply rinse it off under warm water and allow it to dry in the air. You should never wash your stone with soap because the soap flavor will taint the stone. The oils from your food will gradually seep into the stone creating a non-stick surface. After using my current stone for approximately three years it has a shiny, darkened patina as you can see in the picture above.
The first two stones I owned cracked during the cooling process. Although I always followed the recommended procedure of never placing a hot stone on a cold surface, a flaw in the stones may have caused them to crack anyway. I purchased my current stone from Pampered Chef and it has held up without any problems. Most manufacturers provide some kind of warranty for their stones. In fact, after my first stone cracked I brought it back to the retailer and was given a new one without any argument.
When I purchased my current stone, the sales rep told me that I could build my pizza on the cold stone and place it into the pre-heated oven without any risk of cracking. I have done that ever since. I may be sacrificing a little bit of crispness by doing it this way, but my family hasn't had to endure any more squished pizzas. I would recommend that you check with the manufacturer of whichever brand stone you purchase to make sure that is an acceptable procedure for their product.
I have learned that my stone has many versatile uses. It's great for heating up frozen foods for children such as French fries or chicken nuggets (those are also great products for seasoning your stone quickly). It's also terrific for cooking puff pastry appetizers or desserts, croissants, baking bread, or even baking cookies. The heat is distributed so evenly that your puff pastry and cookies never burn on the bottom while the top is still cooking. A preheated stone is even useful for keeping a purchased pizza warm once you've brought it home! If you decide to use your stone to cook frozen food, make sure the food is very evenly distributed across the surface to prevent cracking.
Some stones come with a metal rack that can be used to lift it in and out of the oven. I find mine makes it easier to lift the stone from the oven to the table (always use potholders because the stones get very hot and retain their heat longer than a baking sheet).
Several years ago The Pfaltzgraff Co. issued a warning about a potential fire hazard that could result from following the cleaning instructions printed in their original product instruction book. If you own one of those original stones, I encourage you to check the warning.
