Quality Baking Equipment Makes Baking Easy

Robin Holland-Smith


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).


Several brands of quality baking equipment are constructed from glass. Aluminium and glass both conduct heat well, but glass has several advantages over aluminium. For one, food browns better in glass. Second, acidic foods do well baking in glass whereas they do not in aluminium. Remember that glass gets hot very quickly, so it's okay to reduce some baking temperatures by 25 degrees or so when cooking with glass.


Silicone, a new material to the bakeware market, is flexible, usable in any temperature, and completely non-stick. Silicone non-stick bakeware allows food to heat and brown evenly, and it will stop cooking food as soon as it leaves the oven, unlike older types of bakeware. Silicone bakeware is so advanced that it can even be folded for easy storage!


Another great choice for your bakeware is tinned steel, which is made of steel that has been coated with tin. This type of bakeware is a good heat conductor, allowing for even cooking, and good browning. Tin plate bakeware will darken with use, but this does not effect its abilities for baking. Also, after washing, make certain that you dry thoroughly to avoid the possibility of rust.


Another type of baking pans you might want to consider is insulated bake ware. Insulated pans have two layers of metal with an air-pocket between them. Although insulated bake ware conducts less heat due to the insulation, the air pocket does allow for good browning as well as even baking. Insulated bake ware also helps keep foods from burning. You may need to increase bake times slightly when using insulated pans.

Aluminium bakeware is the most prevalent type of quality baking equipment on the market today. Aluminium allows for cooked products to bake correctly as aluminium conducts heat evenly and efficiently.