Holland Houseware

If you’re a baker, you know what a difference having the right equipment can make to ensure your finished product is perfect. But what exactly is the right equipment? In this article, we discuss the most common types of bakeware and their pros and cons so that you can be as well informed as possible when you next walk into your local quality baking equipment store or purchase bakeware online.

The most common type of quality baking equipment is aluminium bakeware. Aluminium conducts heat well, which means that your baked products cook up evenly; however, some baked products may not brown as well as you might like. Aluminium bakeware is good for just about any type of food, except for foods with a high acid content (i.e., tomato-based foods or foods with a large amount of citrus juice).

Another popular material for quality baking equipment is glass. Glass is a good conductor of heat but, unlike aluminium, it allows food to brown completely and can be used to prepare acidic foods. Do keep in mind that, since glass heats up fast, you will have to reduce some baking temperatures by about 25 degrees.

Using silicone as a bakeware material is a fairly new development, but comes with many things in its favor; it’s flexible, adaptable, can be used in any temperature, and doesn’t stick. You can even fold silicone bakeware for convenient storage. Foods cooked in silicone non stick bakeware warm well, brown evenly, and best yet, the food stops cooking as it’s removed from the oven.

Tinned steel is also a good choice for bakeware. It is made with steel coated with tin. It conducts heat well, cooks food evenly, and allows for good browning. Over time, tin plate bakeware may darken slightly, which will not effect its baking ability. Make sure to dry your tinned steel bakeware completely after washing so that it does not rust.

Insulated bakeware is another option. Its composition of 2 metal layers with a thin layer of air in between allows for even baking and good browning. A wonderful benefit to using insulated bakeware is that food cooked in it is able to resist burning. The insulation results in slightly lowered heat, so it is possible that you might have to bake your food slightly longer to compensate for that.

If you bake regularly, you know that having a good equipment can help to ensure that your creation is exactly what you intended it to be. Here, we’ll talk about common baking equipment so that you can be well informed when you go shopping for quality baking equipment. Using silicone as a tin plate bakeware material is a fairly new development, but comes with many things in its favour; it’s flexible, adaptable, can be used in any temperature, and doesn’t stick. Foods cooked in silicone non stick bakeware warm well, brown evenly, and best yet, the food stops cooking as it’s removed from the oven.

- Robin Holland-Smith

This entry was posted on Friday, November 9th, 2007 at 6:11 pm and is filed under Baking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.