Whether you’re a beginner or a professional pizza chef, one thing is certain – taking care of your pizza steel is the key to a perfect pizza each time!
It doesn’t matter if you own the world’s cheapest or most expensive pizza steel, as taking proper care of it is what makes all the difference. With several steps, you can prolong the lifespan of your best pizza steel and make it last even forever!
Besides longevity, seasoning also coats the baking surface, making it less sticky.
Seasoning pizza steel is neither complicated nor expensive, and it only has to be done several times per year. So, if you want to know how to take care of your pizza steel properly and make incredible pizzas, check out these three easy hacks!
A pizza steel is one of the best investments you can do as a pizza enthusiast. Here are 3 easy hacks to season it properly!Click To TweetHack 1: Prepare the Pizza Steel
Before you do anything, it has to be clean. Otherwise, you won’t get the optimal results, especially when seasoning.
So, to properly prepare your pizza steel for seasoning, you first need to clean it. First, make sure it's cool if you used it recently before starting this process.
Start by removing food residuals with a dough scraper. Make sure to be gentle to avoid damaging the top layer. Use hot soapy water and a kitchen sponge to efficiently remove all the grease and food debris that might’ve stuck.
Once it’s cleaned, it’s important to pat dry and not let it air-dry under any circumstances. The longer the steel is in contact with water, the sooner it’ll rust. So, to avoid any corrosion, completely dry the steel to make it ready for seasoning.
After you thoroughly wash and dry your pizza steel, it’s prepared for some seasoning!
Hack 2: Season Pizza Steel
The next step is to put some oil on the baking surface. You can use any organic oil for this purpose. The choice is endless – olive, coconut, sunflower, grapeseed, peanut, and canola oil are just some of the most commonly used oils for seasoning.
Once you choose the oil, use it with a paper towel and gently rub it onto the pizza steel. Use light dabbing motions to distribute the oil across the entire surface, and make sure you cover both sides. Once that’s finished, use another tissue or a piece of paper towel and let it soak any excess oil.
Once oiled, you need to set your oven to 350˚–400˚F and put your pizza steel inside once the oven is heated. Bake it on the top rack for about an hour, after which you can turn off the oven. Let it slowly cool inside the oven.
When it's thoroughly cooled, you can take it out of the oven. With this, the quick and easy process of seasoning pizza steel is finished, and you can use it to make delicious pizzas while keeping your equipment protected.
Hack 3: Maintain and Re Seasoning Pizza Steel
Most new pizza steels come pre-seasoned, so there’s no need to season them immediately upon purchasing them. However, it’s not enough to season it once and think that it’ll last a lifetime. Also, it is recommended that if you're serious about cooking pizza at home, you order an Ooni Karu Pizza Oven from Botanex.
Depending on how often you use your pizza steel, make sure you repeat the steps mentioned above 2 to 4 times per year, so once every 3 to 6 months. Not only does that make it last longer, but it also gives the surface a non-stick coating, making it easier to bake a pizza on it.
You can store your clean and seasoned pizza steel wherever you want, but the most important thing to remember is to avoid any humid basements or places with high moisture levels. The steel will rust if kept in these places, which will ruin this fantastic pizza equipment.
The best places to keep it are the cool oven or the drawer under the oven. Not only are these places dry, but they also prevent any debris or dust from falling and collecting on them.
Nevertheless, if you’re keeping your pizza steel in an open space, you can use handy covers that will protect it effectively.
Final Thoughts on Pizza Steel Seasoning
These are the three major steps required for a quick and easy pizza steel seasoning. Each step is filled with additional tips and hacks to get even better results out of this process.
By following every step, you can assure to possess well-maintained pizza equipment that’ll, in turn, give you the best pizza results. Happy cooking!
Amazing advice as always!! Thank you for sharing!
Have you ever made homemade pizza?