The First-Bake Guide
Your stone just arrived. Before you bake anything, read this — it's a 2-minute read that saves you from the three mistakes almost everyone makes on bake one.
First things first: do NOT season it
Cast iron gets oiled. Pizza stones don't. Your Hans Grill stone is cordierite — it works by staying bone-dry and pulling moisture out of the dough, which is what gets you a blistered, crisp base. Oil soaks in, smokes at temperature, and never comes back out. No oil, no butter, no spray. Ever.
The first bake, step by step
- Cold stone into a cold oven. Middle rack. A stone hates thermal shock — never put a cold stone into a hot oven, and never wet a hot stone.
- Crank it higher than feels right. 260–280°C / 500–550°F — whatever your oven maxes at. Most home ovens run cool, and an under-heated stone is the #1 reason home pizza comes out 'fine' instead of great.
- Wait 45 minutes after the oven says it's ready. The air heats fast; the stone doesn't. The oven beeping does not mean the stone is hot. This step is where the crust is earned.
- Dust your peel, not the stone. Flour or semolina on the peel so the pizza slides. Nothing goes on the stone itself.
- Launch, bake 6–8 minutes, done. If your dough is slack and your stone is properly hot, you'll see the rise in the first 90 seconds.
- Leave the stone in the oven to cool. Hours, not minutes. Pulling it out hot is how stones crack.
Cleaning (this is the bit people get wrong)
No soap. Cordierite is porous — it'll drink the soap and your next four pizzas will taste of it. Once the stone is fully cool: scrape off stuck bits with a blunt scraper or dry brush, wipe with a barely-damp cloth if you must, and let it dry completely before it goes back in the oven.
Stains are normal. A used stone goes patchy and dark. That's not dirt — that's a stone that's earned its marks. A pristine white stone is a stone that's never made a good pizza.
Troubleshooting bake one
- Pale, soft base? Stone wasn't hot enough. Give it the full 45 minutes next time.
- Pizza stuck to the peel? More semolina, and work faster — wet dough sitting on a peel glues itself down in about 90 seconds.
- Burnt flour taste? Brush excess flour off the stone between bakes (dry brush, once it's manageable).
- Smoke? Usually stray flour or a topping spill, not the stone. Scrape when cool.
One upgrade that out-performs any gear
Buy 00 flour. Your supermarket has it. Finer grind, higher protein, stretches thin without tearing — it makes a bigger difference than most equipment upgrades, and it costs about £2.
Questions about your first bake? Reply to any of our emails — a real person reads every one. Happy baking.
— The Hans Grill team
