In Equipping Your Kitchen…Part 1, we discussed the kinds of pans you need to get a good start in your kitchen. Today, let’s talk about…
Bakeware
Everyone loves home-baked things…cookies, casseroles, meatloaf…and with the right kind of pans, you can make these things too! Most of the pans that are specifically meant to go in your oven have multiple uses. Here are the ones I consider necessary for everyone.
A sheet pan
More precisely, everyone needs a half-sheet pan. (There is such a thing as a whole-sheet pan, but most home ovens aren’t large enough to accommodate them.) A half-sheet pan is 17-1/2” long by 12-1/2” wide with 1” tall sides. Your grandma may have called it a “jelly roll pan” and, yes, you could make a jelly roll in it if you felt like it. It’s possibly the most useful baking pan you will own. Here’s a short list of things I use mine for: cookies, a glorious concoction known as “Texas Sheet Cake”, a drip pan under my pies, baking Tater Tots & french fries, a serving tray, roasting bacon (yes, this is a thing…a very, very fine thing), etc. Mine are heavy-duty rolled aluminum. Heavier is definitely better; cheap ones warp when they get hot. Steer clear of ones with dark coatings. They usually just burn the bottoms of things before the tops get done. Expect to spend $10 to $15 on a good one.
An 8” or 9” square cake pan
It’s good for cake…and so much more. I make brownies, cornbread and lemon bars in mine…I’ve even roasted a small chicken in one. The difference between an 8×8 and a 9×9 is negligible for most uses. Make sure the one you get has sides at least 1-1/2” tall. There are lots of kinds to choose from. I have three of them…a 9” ceramic one (which I love), a 9” heavy aluminum one (which I love) and an 8” non-stick coated steel one (which I hate and hardly ever use). The reason I hate the non-stick one: it has a dark coating that invariably burns the bottom of whatever I’m baking, no matter how closely I watch it. A nice one will set you back about $10.
A loaf pan
Fess up…you may not want to admit it, but you love meatloaf! Not ready to let the world know yet? OK…will you confess to a special place in your heart for banana bread? It doesn’t matter what your favorite brick-shaped food is…if you want to make it, you’ll need a loaf pan. I have them in several sizes, but my favorite one is 8”x4” with 3” high sides. They come in several different materials…steel, aluminum, ceramic, even silicone. Oddly, all of mine (except a Corning Ware one I bought at Goodwill for $1) are made of Pyrex, a type of tempered, heat-resistant glass. This type of glass produces a really nice crust on loaves without burning them and is fairly easy to clean. A nice stout one, metal or glass, shouldn’t cost more than about $15.
A ceramic casserole dish
Grandma finally gave you the recipe for her famous tuna-noodle casserole that she bakes in that Corning Ware dish with the little blue flowers on it. You know you want to make that yummy thing that tastes like home. You just need something to bake it in! And that thing is a casserole dish. I have them in sizes that range from 1 quart to 5 quarts, with lids and without. But the most useful ones I have are 2 to 3 quarts. The prices range from $5 for a bargain basement one to over $100 for a foo-foo French one. A real Corning Ware one will probably cost $25 to $30. A Pyrex one is more like $10 to $15. (A word to the wise: Check your local Goodwill, junk store or garage sales. You can probably pick up a really nice one for way less than $5.)
A cooling rack
A cooling rack is one of the biggest multi-taskers in your kitchen. It’s not just for cooling your freshly-baked cookies anymore! You can use it to drain fried foods, make beef jerky, as a big trivet if you’re taking several things out of the oven at the same time or that bacon roasting thing I mentioned earlier. Get one that’s roughly the same size as your sheet pan, 11”x16” or so. Mine are non-stick, stackable and have legs that fold underneath the rack for easier storage. You can get a package of 2 or 3 for less than $10.
Most of the baking I do uses these same pans over and over. But I also have a short list of bakeware items that are not strictly necessary, but really handy to have.
The extract is extremely bitter, it is said to be faced only by the men around the world have taken the bold decision to take this cute-n-tiny.com cialis from india. This condition is referred to in the medical community as Peyronie’s Disease, and is also sometimes called fibrous caverositis as a description of the condition of having fibrous scar tissue building up in the layers of erectile tissue (cavernosa). cialis purchase online http://cute-n-tiny.com/page/49/ Through time, Singapore has placed itself as one of the best drugs for the treatment of erectile viagra in canada dysfunction in men. Causes for Premature Ejaculation Are you dealing with Premature Ejaculation? Don’t worry because 20-30 percent of men http://cute-n-tiny.com/cute-animals/dog-and-deer-pals/ get viagra in canada are dealing with this sexual issue daily. A 13”x9” rectangular pan
They’re ubiquitous at potlucks and church suppers. Most of the recipes for desserts in the Junior League cookbook your Great Aunt Tilly gave you require one. Making brownies for a crowd?…13×9 pan. Big batch of broccoli-rice casserole?…13×9 pan. Cornbread dressing for the whole darn clan at Thanksgiving?…13×9 pan. I have 2; one’s ceramic and one’s heavy-duty aluminum and has a snug-fitting hard plastic lid. I use the pretty blue ceramic one when I’m trying to impress people. I use the aluminum one the rest of the time. As before, avoid ones with dark finishes. A nice, sturdy one is about $10.
A muffin tin
If you like cupcakes, you’ll probably want a muffin tin. They come in 3 sizes; mini, regular and jumbo. If you decide to get one, I’d start with a regular one. These usually have 12 (or sometimes just 6) indentations that hold about ½ cup of batter each. If you feel the need to own a second one, go for a mini. Not just for those cute-as-a-button baby cupcakes, a mini muffin tin is also great for baking meatballs. Muffin and cupcakes cook pretty quickly, so these tins are just about the only baking pan where a dark finish is preferred. A muffin pan, regardless of muffin size, shouldn’t cost more than $10.
Two 9” round cake pans
One round cake pan is not particularly helpful. They’re best in pairs. I primarily use mine for 2 things, layer cakes and flan. But when I make those things, nothing else will do. You can look like a genius baker by making a layer cake with a boxed cake mix and a can of frosting. And all you did was follow the package instructions! They should be of fairly heavy metal, either aluminum or steel and with a light-colored finish and have sides that are at least 1-1/2 inches high. They’re often sold in pairs and should cost anywhere from $10 to $15.
A pie pan
Nothing’s homier than a freshly baked pie. And you need a pie pan to make a pie. The reason why pie pans are on the “not strictly necessary” list is because you can buy delicious pie crust already in a disposable aluminum pan all ready for you to use and claim as your own. There’s also fabulous ready-made pie crust dough already rolled out for you to put in your very own pie pan. They really put the “easy” in “easy as pie”. Pie pans come in a lot of sizes and materials. My favorite one is a 9” Pyrex one. One of those runs about $7.
There are a few disposable items that aren’t pans that will help you immensely when you’re baking. Here are my favorites: aluminum foil, parchment paper & paper cupcake liners.
Aluminum foil comes in several varieties and sizes. The two types I use most are heavy-duty and non-stick. Non-heavy-duty foil is like the tissue paper of metal and is nearly useless unless you double it up. I vastly prefer heavy-duty. It’s twice the thickness of regular and is much more resistant to tearing. I use it to line casserole dishes for easier clean up, covering pans without lids and wrapping ears of corn before I put them on the grill. Contrary to some urban legends, it doesn’t matter if you put the shiny or dull side next to the food. Non-stick foil means just that. It’s aluminum foil that NOTHING will stick to. Anytime you need to wrap something up and have it not stick, this is what you want. The non-stick coating is only available on the dull side of the foil.
Parchment paper is the paper equivalent of non-stick foil. I use it to line my sheet pans when I’m baking sticky things. When you’re done, you can throw away the mess and your pan remains clean.
Paper cupcake liners are little pleated cups that fit in your muffin pan and are extremely helpful in keeping the muffins or cupcakes from sticking to the pan. They allow you to get your precious cupcakes out of the pan intact and are available for every size of muffin.
There are literally hundreds of other baking items available for sale in the wide, wide world. I should know; I have loads of them. But these items should allow you to bake a myriad of recipes for years to come. Next time…sharp things!