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!
So one day I was searching for a better way to clean my stones and I came across a woman saying she cleans hers in her ovens self cleaning feature. (I wish I could remember the blog I read this on so I could link it but I don't remember) This sounded interesting but I wasn't quite sure it would work. I mean really, how could it??
Well the only way I could find out was to give it a try. I took my stone, scrapped off all the cooked on food with my plastic scrubber and hot water (It was cheese actually, not my favorite thing to have on my stones but stuff happens!) and placed my stone in my oven. I set the oven cleaning cycle to clean for three hours and went along with the rest of my cleaning routine.
After three hours I impatiently waited for my oven to cool off enough for the door to unlock. As soon as I noticed it was unlocked I opened the oven in a hurry to find a perfect stone! It looked like I just took it out of the box for the first time!!
The only thing left to do was give it a wash with some warm water because it had some soot on it. I mean really, can you believe it?? I'm still having a hard time believing its true! This is going to save me so much money!!
Yes, you will have to re-season your stones each time you do this but I never found it hard to season them to begin with, so that doesn't bother me. Also, this is not something I will be doing every month, I will reserve this for around every six months to a year.
*****UPDATE***** February 11, 2012
I have received a few messages from consultants telling me Pampered Chef does not recommend you use your stones in temperatures higher than 450 degrees because they can crack. Mine have held up perfectly so far, however if you chose to try this be prepared for a chance that your stones can crack. I have heard many success stories so far, and have only had one comment (read below) telling me their stone has cracked.
Also I will make sure to point out that your stoneware is supposed to change colors during seasoning and create a natural nonstick surface. Although I know this is true, when my stone starts to look nasty I don't like to feed my family from it. Call me crazy but it freaks me out. I have no problem taking the chance of having to buy a new one to ensure our food safety!
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We discovered this by accident a couple years ago. Though, one of our stones cracked once when we cleaned it in this way. But it usually work without incident.
ReplyDeleteI recently had to replace a part on my stove, and the repairman gave me a tip. Don't use the self-cleaning feature because the prolonged high temp can burn out the control board. As tempting as it is, I don't use my self-cleaning anymore after having to replace the part damaged by it.
ReplyDeleteof friend of mine (a scout master) says he cleans his cast iron the same way.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even think of that. I'll have to try it with my cornbread skillet. Thanks for letting me know.
DeleteGood thing I don't have a Pampered Chef stone. I cook my pizzas at 500F. Also, I've been cleaning my stone this way for a few years. It works like a charm.
ReplyDeleteAnd part of the reason I bought this stove is the self-cleaning feature. I'm not going to not use it for fear of killing the board. If it kills the board, the company that made it will be hearing from me, because they shouldn't be making an oven with a self-cleaning feature if that feature is going to break their product.
Even though they say not to, I've been putting mine in the dishwasher. I have never noticed a taste issue. It does not get rid of the stains and I think I will try the self cleaning oven feature.
ReplyDeleteI too run mine through the dishwasher. It freaks me out to just use hot water; something about it not being germ-free entirely, bothers me. I keep picturing teams of slithering biofilms reaching out for one another, but until someone affiliated can give me a logical, SCIENTIFIC reason to not use soap, a dishwasher, or high temperatured oven, I'm going to keep doing as I have been.
DeleteI'm going to try this on my stone. I DO use the self cleaning feature to clean my aluminum cookie sheets and tray from the toaster oven.
ReplyDeleteI'm nervous... you're not supposed to leave the racks in the oven during self cleaning... any problems with your racks after this?
ReplyDeleteNo, I have not had any problems with anything.
DeleteThank you for sharing this idea!! I usually toss my stones after they get dirty.... so it is totally worth it to give this a shot!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't like to use my stone when it looks gnarly, either, but I don't have a self-cleaning cycle on my oven (wah!). I wish I had figured this out sooner - PARCHMENT PAPER! You still get the benefits of the stoneware, especially for pizza crusts and breads, but it is non stick and protects your stoneware. The parchment gets dark brown around the edges if there is a lot of overhang around the stone, but so far it has not burnt my food or caught fire. And when your food is done it is so easy to use the paper to slide it onto a waiting baking sheet or cooling rack.
ReplyDeleteI have had oven cleaner (easy off) accidentally sprayed onto my stone and it also removes stains. I followed it up by washing and a slight baking in the oven to reduce any residual from the easy off.
ReplyDeleteYou guys crack me up. I thought I was a germaphobe but apparently not as affected as some others.
ReplyDeleteMy stones are a beautiful dark, dark brown and absolutely nothing sticks to them so clean up is a breeze. If there's a germ on them (I doubt there are any more than on my dishwasher washed baking dishes) they get killed during preheating. The same with my cast iron. I would't dream of doing anything that would affect the non-stick seasoning that has built up over 40 some years of marriage.
Leaving your racks in during self-clean cycles just discolors them. They don't warp or anything, but are no longer chrome shiny.
How do you season a pizza stone? The box my stone came in gave no instructions on seasoning it.
ReplyDeletemy oven doesn't have a self cleaning feature "it's Old" so would it work do you think if I just the turned the heat up really high for a few hours?and how do you reseason the stone..
ReplyDeleteFantastic! I have been so desperate to clean my stone that after scraping all of the junk off I have been known to toss it in the dish washer. At least there is a better option.
ReplyDelete