How To Use A Pizza Stone For A Perfectly Crispy Crust Every Time

Gooey cheese, savory sauce, golden crust — when it comes to food, very little compares to a well-made pizza. But anyone who has prepared pizza at home knows that these ideal attributes are easier said than baked. After all, it's hard to make homemade pizza taste like it came out of a pizza oven. Your cheese might turn out stringy, your sauce might be too bland, or your toppings might become soggy. More often than not, though, the source of the home cook's culinary frustration is the crust. In professional pizza establishments, crust is perfected by baking it at incredibly high temperatures on an oven's blistering floor, but a standard home oven uses racks and can't reach the optimal 800 degrees Fahrenheit. So it's not uncommon to find that your crust has turned out doughy or soft with no discernable crunch. Enter: the pizza stone.

A pizza stone is an inch-thick slab made of ceramic, clay, cast iron, granite, or steel (in which case, it's instead usually called a pizza steel). Designed to imitate a pizza oven's hot floor, the material stays much hotter than a standard baking sheet or pan would. Because it becomes so hot, the moisture in the dough evaporates when it makes contact with the stone instead of ending up trapped in the crust as it would with a cooler surface. This allows the crust to bake rapidly and develop a satisfying crunch rather than a soggy texture. So long as you use it right, a pizza stone will not only provide a perfectly crispy crust, it can also help reduce your cook times.

Pizza stones are a very simple, low-effort kitchen tool, but they do require careful use. Despite their seemingly durable material, the slabs are fairly delicate and you can't use them exactly the same way you would a baking sheet or pan. That care begins before the oven is even on.

You should always put a pizza stone in a cold oven. Set the stone on your oven's lowest rack and allow it to heat up as the oven does. Placing the cold stone in an already hot oven can lead to thermal shock, which often results in cracking; even if it doesn't crack immediately, dramatic temperature changes can weaken your pizza stone over time. This can also happen if you set cold dough on the stone's surface when it's hot, if you take the hot stone out of the oven and put it directly on a cool counter, or even if you try to cook frozen pizza on the stone. Since large ones like Hans Grill's 12-by-15 inch pizza stone, which is $65 on Amazon, are typically pricier than ordinary pans, you'll want to take care to prevent thermal shock.

Once the oven is up to temperature, allow the stone to heat up for about 30 more minutes to let it really get scorching — then it's ready for your (room temperature) pizza dough. Many stones come with a pizza peel, a large, flat spatula for transferring the savory pie between surfaces; take Chef Pomodoro's foldable pizza paddle, for instance. But you can also use a cutting board to move the dough without getting burned. The stone will start baking the dough right away, transforming it into a perfect crispy, crunchy pizza crust in only about 10 minutes.

Once you get a taste of stone-baked pizza (and even other breads like bagels, pita, and English muffins that could use a crispy crust), the little slab will quickly become an indispensable tool for whenever you want to avoid soggy dough — so you'll want to make sure it's taken care of even once it's done baking. Luckily, caring for a pizza stone is nearly as low effort as the use. 

Since many of the materials used to make pizza stones are porous, it's best to avoid cleaning them with soap. Instead, remove any stuck-on cheese, sauce, and dough with a scraper, then give the stone a quick once-over with a wet cloth. Just make sure that it's fully dry before baking another pizza.

Many home cooks store their pizza stones in the oven so that they never risk thermal shock when using it. It won't be harmed while other foods bake, so you don't have to remove the stone when using the appliance. Plus, the stone surface can even help regulate an oven's temperature. Keep in mind that your oven may need additional time to preheat while the stone is inside, though.