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Cleaning & Seasoning Baking Steel

Dear Valued Customer,

I just wanted to take a moment of your time to thank you for

Choosing a DareBuilt hand-crafted product and supporting our

100% “Made in Canada” brand.

My team and I work super hard to create the best products possible

Baking Oven Steels™ only the highest quality materials we can obtain. 

We carefully inspect each piece and package them individually by hand.

It is our hope that these products will deliver fabulous food, great

memories and last a lifetime.


WHAT IS SEASONING?

Seasoning is the process of treating your Baking Oven Steel with oil to create a seal on your steels surface. Heating with a high smoke point oil creates a polymerization—the oil and heat react together to form a solid layer, filling in the metal’s small pores. This helps prevent rust and keeps food from sticking during cooking.

While your DareBuilt Steel does come “pre-seasoned”, this is mainly meant to protect it during transit and another round of seasoning is needed before you begin cooking. We have found that the best method of doing this is in the oven. Note that you may have to adjust your oven racks to accommodate the size of the steel and location for ease.

1. Wash Your Steel

Give your Steel a good wash with warm water and a mild soap. This removes the initial layer of Canola oil applied at the factory to protect your Baking Oven Steel from during transit. Just a light wash is fine and it is ok if some Canola oil still remains on the steel

3. Dry It Off ASAP!!!

Make sure it is bone dry. Start by drying with a paper towel to avoid leaving behind any bits of fluff, and then set it over low heat to make sure no dampness remains. Work fast to prevent rusting of the steel.

4. Apply the seasoning Oil

Pour a few teaspoons of your high smoke-point oil into a paper towel. Make sure you cover the surface of the Steel as well as its walls, edges and finger holes but don’t overdo it—you only need a very thin layer. Less is more when seasoning your DareBuilt Baking Oven steel.

5. Oil both sides! 

Season both sides of the steel. As moisture will circulate in the oven, droplets of water will condense on the bottom of the steel causing possible rust spots. By keeping the bottom of the steel oiled this will be prevented from happening.

6. Place in Oven

Wipe to remove any excess oil before placing it best side up in the oven. The Sheet Pan will catch any drips so you don’t start a grease fire. Pre adjust your racks to the middle of the oven so that even heat can circulate around your steel evenly. Note- the steel surface may contain slight imperfections but in no way will these affect the steels performance.

7. Turn on the Heat!

Place your lightly seasoned DareBuilt Oven Steel onto the middle rack and turn on the oven setting to bake 475 degrees. Allow the steel to heat up slowly inside the oven, when the temperature of 475 is reached hold that temperature for at least 1 Hour. (Note- Open any windows in the area or turn on the oven fan as the steel may smoke during the seasoning process.)

8. Cool down Time…Take a break and relax!

After an hour, turn off your oven and let the Steel cool off inside. Once it is cool to the touch, you’re ready to start baking! In most cases 1 seasoning layer should be sufficient to start using the steel but it only gets better with use. Foods may still stick initially until three or four seasoning cycles are complete.

9-OPTIONAL, but it works!

You may feel free to add additional coats of seasoning oil every hour to help the long term seasoning of the steel improve. Be very careful applying the oil to the hot steel! Use protection. Alternatively, you can season again next day once the steel is cooked off fully.

A Quick note about selecting your Seasoning oil.

 Select the seasoning oil that best suits your taste and budget. Vegetable oil, canola oil or melted vegetable shortening are all good choices.  These are all fats with high smoke points, which mean they will bake on cleanly instead of turning sticky.

Do not use olive oil or butter to season your Baking Oven Steel— these are great to cook with, just not for initial seasoning. You may also feel free to select an oil of your liking. Always choose oil with a high smoke point. There is a lot of information on the web so do some research and select the oil best suited to your taste.

 

CLEANING AND CARE

  1. Allow baking oven steel to cool before you attempt to wash or clean it. For stubborn residue clean when still somewhat warm.

  2. Wash by hand with hot water & mild dish soap and soft brush or salt. Do not use steel wool or any abrasive methods or you will damage the seasoning layer.

  3. If needed apply boiling water to areas of stuck on foods and allow to soak under towel until softened.

  4. Always keep dry and oiled-Never air-dry seasoned iron or it may develop rust. You may choose to leave in the oven all the time, if so please remember to keep very lightly coated with oil. It is FINE to leave it in the oven all the time whatever your cooking.

  5. Rub a thin layer your favorite seasoning oil to the steel, even layers build better seasoning. You may store in a cool dry location.

  6. Burn Warning: Not for use for young children or inexperienced cooks. Please handle with extreme care and caution and always use protective oven mitts or other tools while in use. 

  7. In certain cases you may wish to burn off excessive foods scrub and re season again

  8. The oven steel can be left in the oven at all times! It makes all baking in the home oven better as it acts a a heat regulating plate reducing oven temperature fluctuations – simply keep it coated with oil from time to time.

  9. You may use the steel on the BBQ but it is not recommended for wood fires or coal fires that can produce very high temperatures and ruin your seasoning layers.

NOTE 1: 

Burn Warning: Never handle when hot! Not for use for young children or inexperienced cooks. Please handle with care and always use protective oven mitts. 

NOTE 2: (Only if applicable) Buff off any Rust spots that may have occurred while in storage, with an abrasive cleanser and pad- it will not hurt the steel.

 

SPECIAL NOTE

1-Since the DareBuilt Baking Oven Steel™ has been sandblasted the surface of the steel is stripped clean and left soft. If you continue to rub the steel the surface prior to seasoning will continue to rub off leaving a greyish colour on your cloth; THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL!, the steel is not dirty just soft on the surface and once the steel is hardened through the seasoning process it will no longer happen. Think of it as rubbing your fingers on the end of a pencil – the colour will rub off on your hand, same thing.

2- Less oil the better- the biggest mistake people make is that they over season the steel, simply apply a very light layer and make sure that it is slightly wiped off before you season, less oil is more oil.

3- The more you use your DareBuilt Baking Oven Steel™ the better it will get!

4-If you are using your DareBuilt Baking Oven Steel™ on the BBQ there is no need to overheat the steel –Try to keep the steel at 450 degrees  or you can burn off the seasoning layers.

For more general tips and best practices for maintaining your steel, from seasoning frequency to cleaning hacks, check out our Pizza Steel Care 101: Cleaning & Seasoning Tips

Cheers!