Warning about pizza stones and the self-cleaning function of your oven

[tandot]

So, my husband read somewhere on teh internets that if you want to clean your pizza stones, to put it in the oven and turn the self-cleaning function on.

Please do NOT try this. I just had two fire trucks here because my oven was on fire. The whole inside of the oven was on fire and black smoke was filling the house. Because it locks when it is on self-cleaning, I couldn't open it to use the extinguisher. I had to call 911

[hlthe2b]

1. wow.... To be honest, I have always been wary of even using the self-cleaning function...

But, good to know about this... I suppose it might have been something that would occur to me, but....?

[tandot]

2. I haven't used the self-cleaning much because it smokes up the house a little

I opened all the windows and had fans running because I expected a little more smoke with the pizza stones. Now, I just feel very stupid. It seems so logical now that a greasy pizza stone catches fire when exposed to very high heat.

I still can't open the oven door because it is still too hot. We'll probably have to get a new one

[hlthe2b]

3. How did they put out the fire--without being able to open the oven door?

[tandot]

4. The fire was dying by the time they got here.

They pulled the stove out and checked with some kind off temperature gun to make sure that it is all contained to the inside and nothing else is on fire. They turned off the gas and unplugged the oven and left once the fire was out. They couldn't open the door either.

It seemed like it wasn't the first time they were called to a self-cleaning oven fire.

One guy was joking that now, since the oven is pulled out, I can clean behind it. It was really dirty, greasy, and disgusting behind it.

[msanthrope]

12. Your husband should be cleaning behind it!!! nt

[anasv]

13. I got the same comment from the repair guy for the builtin microwave,

Listen, stuff in my house that's accessible is lucky if it gets cleaned.

[The empressof all]

5. Why would you want to clean a stone anyways

Even baked on bits come off with a little scraping with a plastic scraper. Grease comes off with a sponge and a wipe. Never use soap on your stone and the blacker it is the better it is. Mine is almost 10 years old and is a beautiful deep deep brown after years of just rinsing and a quick swipe with a rag. Nothing sticks to it and my crusts come out beautifully.

[hibbing]

14. agree here

I have had mine for probably a good decade. I don't use it all that often, but it does have a nice patina to it, which I think improves it. I scrape some bits off with a spatula every once in awhile if need be.

Peace

[Paper Roses]

6. Thanks for the warning. I have put the stone in the oven several times over the years.

Never gave thought to a fire.

[Glassunion]

7. I'm not recommending this but...

I have bypassed the locking mechanism on my oven so I can open it regardless of the function selected.

I actually did this to be able to cook on my stone at higher temps than the oven would normally allow and to allow access for just such a scenario as you have described.

[tandot]

8. Thanks for posting this

I am not sure if I'll ever use the cleaning function again. If I do, I might look on the Internet to see how to bypass the locking mechanism.

Also, we have a gas grill that gets up to 650 degrees and we are now using the pizza stones there. It also heats up the house less

[Glassunion]

9. Alton Brown has an awesome method for grilling pizza

Without the stone. You should look it up on food network's website. I'd link it but I'm iPhone'ing it today.

[GoneOffShore]

10. If you want your oven to last, don't use the "self cleaning" setting.