On Sep 10, 10:14*pm, Cheryl > wrote:
> I bought a Pampered Chef baking stone, first stone I've ever owned. *I
> only bought it to support a sales drive my niece was doing for a party
> otherwise I wouldn't have bought one so expensive. *But it sure is nice..
> Much bigger than I expected at 15". *Nice handles for lifting. *Is there
> any reading for how to use these things? *The only instructions I got
> with it said to season it with cooking spray or cook things like high
> fat refrigerator biscuits for the first few uses. Not to use soap or
> dishwashing liquid, and of course, not dishwasher safe. *Other than that
> it just says to scrape off any food but how do you clean it? *I don't
> even own any cast iron so I don't get the concept of how to clean
> something that you can't use liquid detergent on.
>
> I also noticed the instructions said to use it only if you can cover
> most of the surface with food. *Are there any good tips out there for
> what you can use a 15" baking stone for other than a large pizza? *Thanks.

Cheryl,

My baking stone is about the same size as yours. It's ugly with black
stains from cheese that fell off pizzas and burnt on. It'd smooth and
works just fine. I clean the surface with a dough scraper until it
feels even when I pass my palm over it. You can't feel the stains, and
what they look like doesn't matter. The stone is porous and will
absorb whatever it's washed with. If that were soap, I can only guess
how to fix that. Water is easy, if any gets on by accident.I suppose
letting the stone sit around long enough to completely dry out would
be good enough, but when it happened to me, I dried it in the oven set
at the lowest temperature. The important thing is not to heat it to
baking temperature while there's still enough water inside for
expanding steam to crack it of affect the food. Like a baby, you
shouldn't abuse it, but it's tougher than one might think. Seasoning a
new ceramic baking "stone" consists of wiping it clean od dust,
bringing it to about 350 -400 F long for a few minutes to volitalize
any absorbed crap you wouldn't want flavoring what you'll bake, and
letting it cool.

You mentioned cast iron pans as a species that shouldn't touch water.
They are actually pretty tough. You can look at my letter on how to
maintain and restore them (http://users.erols.com/jyavins/season.htm),
but remember, Ronald Reagan's doctrine of benign neglect works pretty
well. I use water, dish detergent, stainless pads, and steel wool when
needed, and the pans are smooth, rust-free, and as non-stick as
Teflon. The coating that seasoning provides is mostly carbonized oil,
applied and maintained in such a way that it is hard and smooth. Think
"varnish".

Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.