Becoming a better baker and need some tips, please

K

karennoca

Well-known member
I've been cooking since I was about 11 years old....nothing I can't do as long as I have directions. Baking has not been a favorite thing to do for me, other than make cookies, and muffins for the kids, and an occasional birthday cake. Now that there is the two of us, and my better half loves sweets and likes it when I have them in the freezer for him. I have found that my dark bake ware leaves a lot to be desired. The baking Pam spray leaves a horrible residue on the surfaces not touched by the food being cooked. My oven manual says if the baking foods come out too dark, it is probably the dark baking pans. My kitchen shop told me that, as well. So, this morning I ordered a light non-stick metal muffin pan from King Arthur that had excellent reviews.

Today I am making Apple Spice bars, and am cooking them in a 9 x 13 white ceramic dish lined with parchment paper. I sprayed the non-stick baking Pam all over the pan, then lined the bottom with parchment paper. I do the spray because it makes the parchment stay in place. Then I put two wide strips of parchment width wise, so I can lift the baked mixture out of the pan for cutting. Do I need to spray the parchment paper too? What baking pans do you all like? Most of mine are dark and it seems most things I bake get really brown on the edges. I saw a line of baking trays, muffin pan and other assorted bake pans in the Crate and Barrel catalog, for $99.00. Seemed like a good deal. Light metal called Pro-Line and all the pans had wavy ridges, which my kitchen shop says is desirable. Some of the reviews were not too favorable saying that the pans had a fold at the edges that was hard to clean....don't want that. The muffin pan I ordered from King Arthur is US made. Do any of you buy their bake ware and love it?

Any tips, tricks for me? I mainly do muffins, bars, and cookies.

 
My favorite 9 x 13 pans are Wilton aluminum. I don't like the dark pans

because they produce a too-dark exterior, and I feel the cakes are less tender. I always spray the pan and then use parchment paper to line it unless I am planning to serve the cake directly from the pan. Then I just spray the pan, and it's fine.

 
Two things. Get a good oven thermometer, make sure your oven is baking correctly. Second, parchment

paper. I baked for years without using it but once I found out what a boon it is to baked goods, I rarely bake without it. It acts as a bit of buffer against your dark pans (and LINE that pan, don't just use strips), helps the rise in cakes, muffins and quick breads and helps prevent overflow. Can't imagine working without it now. Good luck!

 
If you're using dark pans, always reduce the temperature by 25 degrees, since they conduct more heat

than shiny pans. I used to use dark, nonstick pans, and everything came out fine, as long as I reduced the oven temperature. Spraying them, as you know, is not recommended, so the best way is to butter the pan, and line with parchment. For cakes, butter the pan, line with parchment, butter the parchment, then dust with flour. If making muffins, brush the muffin cups with melted butter or line with paper muffin liners, then brush the liners with melted butter.

My favorite pans are made by Chicago Metallic - it's their Commercial II Line of *aluminized steel* pans, not the nonstick ones. I have all sizes and shapes of these pans, and they're excellent. The only one I don't recommend is their roasting pan, but all the baking pans are great.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=chicago+metallic+commercial+ii&tag=googhydr-20&index=garden&hvadid=7134014739&hvpos=1t2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15022278791217639906&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_6hj157yx94_e

 
Good question! I don't like to use dark, nonstick pans

instead I search of NON non-stick pans. I've found some great Chicago Metallic at Amazon.com and also at TJ Maxx occasionally.

 
I use the Chicago Metallic Commercial Line aluminized steel almost exclusively. See my post above.

 
I buy mine at thift shops, Habitat for Humanity, or my local crack house for bakers.

All are spur of the moment...none are researched.

I do prefer "true-square" corners for cake pans and buy those at the cake supply store. Rounded corners (I'm talking to you, Wilton) are a waste of a piece of cake as far as I'm concerned, especially when trying to cut evenly spaced pieces based on the area of the pan.

You might try my little trick of baking 1/3 of a cake box mix for hubby. Use whichever brand uses 3 eggs. It's quite easy to break the ingredients down to 1/3, which makes a nice plump 6" cake.

 
Instead of Pam, use butter wrappers...

If you are using room temp butter there is a perfect amount left on the wrapper to butter your pan. Extras get tossed in the freezer for future pans.

Parchment...careful, I'm about to get sacrilegious...yeah, I hardly ever use it. Gasp! I use my Silpats for sheet pans - love my air-bake cookie sheets and my heavy-duty half sheet pans came from the restaurant supply store. I've got some 9x13 metal pans, but I often end up using pyrex or a ceramic for things like 9x13 brownies. I know it's suppose to have parchment, but not really sure what it's use is for except to lift the final product out of the pan so it can be trimmed and cut photo shoot pretty. Me? I let them cool and when slightly warm I cut in the pan and lift to remove.

I almost never make a sheet cake (I do use metal for those) but my round and square pans I butter/four - no parchment. I do always have it on hand and on the rare times I think I need perfection or it's something sticky I'll bring it out. Go on now...go ahead and talk about how I need to go sit in the naughty chair for even mentioning not using it, lol!

 
I suppose I'm the rebel but I love silicone for baking

I have the requisite non-stick metal pans too- my wonderful old, old gray-finish T-fal baking pans (8" cake pans, square pan, oval baker, etc) but when I am looking a brownie recipe in the face, for instance, I go right to my round silicone pan that I don't even have to grease. In goes the batter, it bakes, cools down and I simply peel the silicone pan off it. Wonderful stuff. I have a silicone muffin pan, bundt pan, loaf pan, and a couple others. I have individual popover silicone pans too. I hate the spray oil because it leaves a residue on pans. I use a lot of parchment paper on cookie sheets (for instance yesterday I baked a Gougere in a wreath shape on parchment) and if the parchment needs "gluing" down, I just use a touch of butter. At some point I used to use some dark bakeware but never liked it at all and got rid of it.

 
I like these for cakes, but not for quick breads. I don't think the outer crusts gets the

same form of crispness with my silicone mini-pans as they do either in metal or disposable foil pans.

 
I wonder if it depends on the quality of the silicone pan, Marilyn?

I do make quick breads in the loaf pan and they come out great. Banana bread, lemon bread, etc. Crunchy outer crust. I don't have mini-pans maybe that is the difference. My silicone pans are commercial quality not the ones easily found on the internet- really thick. Is that what you have too?

 
Hold on...I'll go check the name. It's stuck up in the closet because I never

use them anymore.

(...humming elevator Muzak...)

okay, I'm back. The name is ROSHCO and it's 8 small bread pans...4.5" long by 2.5" wide. I do like it for small meatloafs (Thanks Marg! for that great idea),, but I've tried banana bread and Brother John's cranberry bread and neither developed the same crust as with disposable aluminum pans or metal bread pans.

 
I am with Deb, I look for heavy duty non non-stick pans. I like the crust they produce. Chicago

Metallic is good, think mine came from BB&B, with a coupon of course!

 
I'm with Steve here. I started out as a baker as a teenager & didn't think I could do anything else

I spent the next 10 years just baking, desserts, cuz I could do it and I figured that's all I could do. I had to learn that a great soup was not so big a deal. ANd there were tricks to making a good stew. There are tricks to everything.

I think that the old basic rules we learned in Home Ec as kids, are important lessons that have not changed much. Accuracy is more important in baking than in general cooking, both in terms of measurement and in physical manipulation. Remember that old rule about the muffin method...if you mix the batter too long you get peaked muffins with tunnels? Those rules just don't change.

Parchment. How it increased the odds in favour of success. !! It really is a wonder. And it does have to be used properly. No strips, other than for lifting big chunks out of a pan. And no, no extra greasing needed.

And dark pans, do cause dark bottoms. Parchment paper!! And move the rack a notch above if the product is still too dark. If you want a rise above the pan's upper edge, build a parchment cuff above the edge of the pan.

I am not a fan of Pam except for the BBQ grill. But for sure, not for baking. Brush with melted butter. Butter, the all-time luxurious flavour. There is no substitute in baking. Cheap butter has more water, I believe. Not great for pastry. Salted butter has more water. Not great for pastry.

Muffins. Do them in huge muffin cups so that they are more enjoyable and less dry.

I like the real French pans for baking. Those guys seem to get as many of the kinks out of the process as they can. I tend to buy simple shapes and am also not fond of nasty corners that are difficult to clean.

I know this is all simple stuff, but once we think simply, I think we allow ourselves to build on creativity.

 
I like Chicago Metallic pans, and use butter and not Pam for securing the parchment

I just use a larger piece of parchment, to leave some overhanging the sides of the pan when making bar cookies, then you can lift the whole thing out once it cools to move to the cutting board.

I also sometime cut down the corner edges of the parchment with scissors, them overlap them across the inside the corners of the pan for a better fit.

Pam will ruin your baking pans, I've found it impossible to remove the residue that has been baked on to the exposed edges. If you like spray vs butter, try canola or coconut oil sprays, they carry both of those at Trader Joe's and they also work well for prepping baking pans, without the residue of Pam.

I also agree with Steve, check your even temp - I have to adjust mine after ruining many batches of cookies, it was off by about 35 degrees.

I also have trouble with burned bottoms of biscuits and cookies if I bake more than one pan at a time in my oven, despite switching the pans halfway through. My oven just doesn't do that as most others can.

Meryl also helped me stop baking biscuits with burned bottoms by suggesting that I double pan them, which I now always do - setting a smaller cookie sheet inside of a larger one, for baking.

 
Yes...pans are all indentations on the same sheet. I saw a baker on Unique Sweets use one

recently and hers was very, very thin. It almost looked like she peeled it off (very floppy) and her bread crusts looked fine.

Mine is rather thick and is almost 10 years old. I bought it when they first came out. Maybe it's time to give it another shot.

 
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