Baking Tools: Wear and Care of Your Pizza Stone

So you've invested in a pizza stone--or dusted it off from where it was hiding at the bottom of the cupboard!

You're loving it when you bake your pizzas, artisan loaves, and various baked goodies.

Now it's collected a few spills and stains. Lovingly gained, but spills and stains none the less.

How should you be cleaning your pizza stone and what kind of wear is normal? Read on!

First off, always heat the stone with the oven. If you put a cool stone into a hot oven, not only is there a chance that the stone will crack, but your food will cook unevenly.

Be careful of putting very heavy things (like dutch ovens) or frozen foods on top of the stone as this also risks cracking the stone. That said, we'll definitely fess up to cooking frozen pizzas on our stone with no ill effects.

Let the stone cool completely after baking. Careful--those things are hot!

Place the cooled stone in a your sink and clean it with a scrubbie, soap, and water.

Some staining is completely normal--take a look at ours! For food (and fire) safety, it's important to brush off any loose bits of food and scrub away large pieces that have adhered to the surface.

Don't let your stone sit in water for too long. The material of the stone is porous and if it absorbs too much water, the stone could crack the next time you use if there's still moisture trapped inside.

Dry the stone with a dishtowel and set it on your counter to dry completely.

Where to store your baking stone?

We keep ours on the middle rack of the oven and bake pretty much everything on top of it. Or if we're baking something very heavy, like a braise or roast, we move it to the bottom of the oven.

Anyone else have pizza stone wear and care advice?

Related: Hot Off (and On) the Grill: Pizza-Que Pizza Stone

(Image Credit: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)