Anybody who has stoneware knows that the only cleaning you can do with your stoneware is scraping and scrubbing with hot water and NO SOAP! You can occasionally use baking soda to aid in getting off the gross stuff but in my opinion it never made a difference.
I have been using stoneware for about eight years and I would use a stone until I couldn't stand to look at it anymore (because it was black) and would toss it and buy a new one. As you know, this gets expensive because this stuff is not cheap!
