Mine looks just like this - I scrub and scrap, and have actually used a paint scrapper to get rid of raised black stuff (that usually works). The stains remain and have no negative impact on my end products.

The first time we used our stone, we didn't put cornmeal down and the crust stuck to it. I just kept putting it in the oven and burning everything off. It took forever but it worked. As far as the soap still coming out of it, I would throw it out and start over.

I haven't dealt with the soap issue, but to remove stuck on grime with out soaking I have had much success in scraping/grinding. I purchased a set of small drill mounted wire brush attachments and just use them to grind off the baked on bits. If your stone is sufficiently seasoned you will grind off the top layer of crusty burnt pieces that may stick to other foods but the oil is deep enough to keep the non-stick properties. The stone might be stained but it won't affect the taste of the food. Sandpaper or a small power sander (like a Black and Decker 'Mouse') may work also or the kit I bought also came with a sanding disk/wheel that I haven't tried yet, I would think the finer the grit the better but would worry about leaving sand behind for the first bake or two.

Maybe soaking it in just plain water a couple times...? Mine looks like the photo too and I just leave it to burn off in the oven when its preheating. It doesn't seem to transfer to my final product. Good Luck

The best thing I have done for my pizza stone is just leave it in my oven all the time. It both helps regulate heat in the oven and the heat of cooking bakes off anything that gets on there. If you really need to get something off, turn the oven up as high as it goes and bake the pizza stone for a while, then take it out and brush it off. Maybe that would also bake out the soap? I am not sure though because I never put soap on mine.

The concern with getting it wet, is the water will stay in the stone and cause it to split. I can actually had my first pizza stone break in half in the oven and I think it was because I got it wet, in inadvertently.

I agree with oncahuenga. I leave my pizza stone in the oven at all times. Actually, once I accidentally self-cleaned the oven with my pizza stone still inside. Luckily, my pizza stone was fine and even cleaner. I don't know how that would work with other brands, but if you're going to throw it out anyway, it's a good last resort.

Yes, your first mistake was using soap. NEVER NEVER NEVER soak a stone in soap. You can use a tiny amount if you just can't stand the thought of not using soap to clean, but make sure you rinse it thoroughly and immediately. I soak my stone in water all the time to help loosen baked on bits.

After much use and love, the best stones are completely black. This is what makes the non-stick properties so wonderful.

If the crusties are continuing to be very stubborn, you can put the stone in the oven through a self-cleaning cycle. It will remove the nonstick properties of the stone - meaning you'll need to reseason it, but it should get the really really baked on bits off.

I also leave my stones in the oven all the time - helps ensure they are completely dry and also helps facilitate even heating in your oven.

Your stone may or may not be the Pampered Chef brand, but here is a link to their website outlining use and care guidelines for their stoneware products.

http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/use_care/detail.jsp?productId=33488

I think the soap is the real issue - you need something to absorb it. I would try scrubbing with a dry (or barely wet) baking soda and/or kosher salt. Let the dry baking soda sit on the stone for awhile and absorb the soap.

I would also heat it up very slowly the next time you use it to give it some time to dry out before cranking up the heat. I turn my oven all the way up to make pizza, but would leave a damp stone in there at like 200 degrees for a few hours first to try to prevent cracking.

I washed mine in soap after a particularly bad first experience. (I now form my pizza on parchment... transfer to the stone... bake for 3 min... slightly lift the partially done pizza and remove the parchment. Then finish baking the pizza... another 3 min. All at 550 in my electric oven. Works like a charm.)

The crusties will eventually burn away and the discoloration is like the patina on antiques... does no harm and actually enhances the "look". As far as the soap... yeah, now we know soap is bad... but what to do? Before you throw it out, I would soak it again in plain water, dry it out and repeat a few times. Then do a trial pizza... just the crust and if you want a little sauce and cheese. Taste it... maybe the soap will be gone. Mine was and I've been using it ever since... over 10 years. It's worth a try. Good luck!

maybe let it sit in the sun.

I never bother cleaning mine except to maybe push some of the soot off with a spatula; but I had the same experience as arparker23. Left the stone in for the self clean cycle, and it ended up looking exactly like new, no soot, no black stains, nothing.

My stone is over 15 years old and is also in the over at all times. Stuff gets burned on and eventually gets burned off. I don't use soap on it although I will wipe it down on occasion. But as someone else said, this really is a kind of patina--the stone shows its history and it doesn't affect how well it works so...I wouldn't worry about it.

I would start over again rather than have dishwashing detergent getting in my bread. The stones are pretty cheap.

And like everyone else says, they all look like that if you use them regularly. I use mine at least once a week for pizza, and it's mostly black. No weird flavors on the pizza or any bread I make on it, though.

Not sure about the soap issue, I agree with @waterlily81, maybe soak it a few times in clean water? But the black coloration is not a problem as long as the actual raised char was scraped/brushed off.

If you can't get it off and you can't stand to use with with the black marks on it, just go to Lowe's and buy an unglazed 18x18 porcelain tile. That's what we use, and it does the same thing as a pizza stone. We got it for $3 and it just stays in our oven all the time. If something drastic happens to it we will just get a new one.

I would try baking it on a low heat (maybe 300 F) with cornmeal on top of it to absorb any soap. Once the white residue seems to have ceased, generously coat it with vegetable oil and bake it again for about 30 minutes. The oil will help it to become non-stick.

Pizza stones are rather resilient - Mine is so dark from years of use, don't worry if a little stuff gets burnt on. My mother uses the same stone she's had for close to 2 decads - it even stood up to a run through the dishwasher courtesy of my father :-)

+1 to what jennipearl said.

It will take a lot more time and aggravation to get the soap out of that stone that it would be to just start over. Unless you want soap leeching into your food...

The way I clean my stone is to put it in my sink, at an angle and let hot tap water run over it. I scrape bits off with a plastic scraper and immediately dry it off with lots of paper towels (since there's usually oil to wipe off) and put it back in my oven where it will air dry until its next use. Soap never touches that stone, much like soap never touches my cast iron pan.

I've had the same stone for at least 15 years. I leave my stone in the oven while it's self-cleaning. And then I just brush off the soot and ashes. Re: the soap...I would soak it in water a few times and then do a test bake. If it's still there than I'd get a new one.

You are not supposed to soak a pizza stone. The water can stay trapped in the porous surface of it, expand when heated, and crack the stone. You should also be careful about buying an unglazed tile from the home improvement store because some of the tiles have lead in them. To clean your stone, you should try heating it and scraping the hot stone.

I dunno if it's recommended, but at one point my stone had become dirty enough that it was emitting foul smelling smoke in the oven that impacted the taste of whatever was baking.

I just left it in the oven and ran and oven self-cleaning cycle. Starting both the stone and the oven cold so that they would heat up together, the high heat of the self-clean did away with all of the mess. It came out pristine.

As for getting the soap remains out of the pizza stone, maybe get the stone wet - a brief soak, then pour baking soda on it. Baking soda should probably have been the thing to soak it in initially, but maybe it will absorb some of the soap? I've just started using a pizza stone in the past year and still learning how to care for it.

We managed to do this to our pizza stone a few months ago. Not the soap, just the burned-on bits. Some pieces had also fallen to the bottom of the oven and burned on there and i had been a while since we'd last cleaned the oven, so we figured a self cleaning cycle with the stone still inside would do the trick.

BEWARE! It didn't seem like much of the crunchy stuff was still there since we'd scraped it thoroughly, but apparently it was too much because after half an hour we were smoked out of our apartment. We had all the doors and windows open with five fans going. It was terrible. We ended up throwing out our pizza stone and getting a new one. Without the pizza stone in it, the self-cleaning cycle on the oven went just fine the next day. It was so strange. I hope you have better luck than we did!

Warm water on wicked hot stone. I keep my stone on the bottom of my oven and it gets killed, mainly with baked sweet potatoes. I scrape off whatever gunk gets on it. When I move it into the middle of the oven after its good and hot I open the stove and pour a little luke warm water on it. I initially did this to make my pita bread puff up easier, but found that the stains were getting lighter and lighter.

I soaked soap into my parents' pizza stone when I was a teenager and the next time we reheated it it released a horrible chemically smoke. I would recommend just tossing it.

Now I use a hard plastic scraper to get burnt pieces off, but the stone discoloring is actually good for it, it kind of builds up a patina with use and eventually will be pretty much non-stick. Sometimes I do use steel wool to scrub the stones, and sometimes baking soda or salt -but never ever soap!

The best way to deal with a soiled pizza stone that you just cannot get clean is to find a ceramic shop with a kiln large enough to accommodate your stone. It must be ABSOLUTELY dry or it will explode. It usually takes about 24 hours or even longer for the kiln to reach maximum temperature and then cool down enough to open it. Everything will burn off/out of the stone. What this will cost will depend on the shop, but I am sure it will be less than buying a new stone.

The stone would have originally been fired in a kiln, so it will surely be able to survive another firing.

I first saw these stones years ago at a Pampered Chef party, and the rep said if we accidentally washed it with soap, it could be absorbed by baking a solid layer of something like Pillsbury biscuits (and then tossing them, of course). Dishwasher powder is a bit intense and stones are inexpensive, so I'd probably throw it out, but you could give the biscuits a try. Deanna's idea of cornmeal is also interesting, but might be trickier to avoid spilling in the oven.

As for the stains, I wouldn't worry about them. They're "seasoning," and common in stones. But the best failsafe to keep the stone looking nice is to only bake dry goods on it.

Cut your losses. Parchment paper is your pizza stone's best friend.

I think once it's been exposed to soap, the stone is toast. I'd toss it and get another.

The dark stains are part of the deal. Stuff's gonna spill and bubble over. I leave my stone in the bottom of the oven at all times, it helps to regulate the heat in the whole chamber. I scrape off the big stuff with a spatula, and wipe it down to get rid of excess cornmeal after it's cooled down. NEVER EVER put water on a hot stone, it'll crack immediately.

I even leave it in the oven during the self-clean cycle. That will burn off any really heavy stains, but the others will become part of the patina that helps to make the stone truly non-stick. Similar to seasoning cast iron.

Scrape as much as possible and try the pillsbury biscuit trick. I was told to make a couple batches of crescent rolls on mine before using it...they are very fatty and the fat seeps into the pores and makes the stone non-stick. After a few years of constant use, mine is definately all stained and discolored, but doesn't seem to impact the flavor of foods at all.

My roomate washed mine in soap before. I baked some pizzas on it and it smelled awful for awhile. It eventually went away but some of them did taste like soap! Its fine now that its been baked in the oven so many times.. but I'd get yourself a new one to avoid the trouble.

I agree that the real issue would be the soap--I wouldn't bake anything high fat on it; I'd think that might trap some of the soap in the stone. I've let water run over a stone for an hour (stone I got at a garage sale & was most likely run through a dishwasher once or twice) and not had any issues with soapy tasting food.

My Pampered Chef stone came with directions not to put it in an oven hotter than 450°F ("Stoneware is heat-resistant to 450°F (230°C)"), and self-cleaning cycles typically run 800-900°F. I think you run a risk of cracking the stone. But if you're thinking about just replacing it anyway, I suppose it would be worth a shot.

This may be crazy, but what about running it through a dishwasher cycle without soap? Might get water into the pores to get the soap out.

My pizza stone is close to twenty years now. I think the suggestion to do repeat soakings may be a way to remove the residue soap. For my regular use I just scrape it clean with a spatula or wire brush or metal spackle blade. If it's dusty I might wipe it with a damp cloth, but never a sponge or anything that's really wet.

IF you have racks that are safe to put in the oven cleaning cycle (chrome ones really are not; cycle safe ones are usually black when new) just put the stone directly on the rack and run the cycle. Be sure that the stone is totally dry else it will crumble or snap.

I almost never 'clean' mine, what I do do is use my bench scraper to get the heavy stuff off. Then, I get a damp paper towel and wipe the remaining soot/dust off.

Apologies for getting all geeky on everyone - but here it is. Soap binds to lipids - so soak it in lipids (oil). I'd drench it with canola (or the oil of your choice) a couple times, to titrate away the soap. Wipe if off between oil applications.

My stone just broke - my first attempt at 550˚F pizza making - after the oven cooled the stone was now stoneS. I have seen family members getting it wet, so I'm guessing water is to blame. Oh well.... This was an interesting read - I learned a lot about stones.

my stone is very thick but i have left it in the oven on the clean cycle quite a few times and it always comes out clean it hasnt broke my stone is 1/2 in. thick.