I was chastised by a friend a couple days ago when she made my recipe for stuffing bread. I didn’t say in the recipe to grease the pans, and she had bread that stuck.
In true “me” fashion, I’ve been performing a trick that I forgot wasn’t common knowledge, and therefore worthy of a blog post. I forgot that most people have an obsession with clean stuff whereas I, having gotten used to having a cast-iron wok and skillet, have actually found out that there is such a thing as having pots and pans that are too clean. Even when they’re supposedly “non-stick.”
The abrasive scouring of dishwasher detergent actually kills the surface of non-stick bakeware faster, making it more likely to stick over time even in spite of grease. Next logical step is to hand-wash, right? Nope.
Let me let you in on a little secret: wash them when you buy them, grease them well when they’re clean just prior to baking (I usually use olive or flaxseed oil), and then go as long between washings as you can. When the pans start to look a little dry, give them a light coating of oil with your fingers, or just dress the lump of dough with a light coat of oil before putting it in the pan. When you must wash the pans, grease them well again before their first use.
Obviously there will be exceptions to the rule that will always require a wash-and-grease (ie Pyrex bakeware, “sticky” bread like banana), but for the most part, when you’re baking standard loaves of bread, you’ll actually find you get better results when you only dry-wipe the inside out between bakings.
If you’ve ever used cast-iron, you should be familiar with the concept of “seasoning” the cookware. In a nutshell, metal cooking surfaces have “pores” that expand and contract in the presence of heat and cold. When “seasoning” the metal, you should be filling these open pores with a high-grade oil that will polymerize, protect the metal, and also keep food from getting stuck.
Nonstick and steel bakeware won’t rust without a coat of “seasoning” the way cast iron will, BUT if you stop washing it after every use, you’ll still get better nonstick action. They won’t be as aesthetically pleasing as a spotless pan, but you’ll also use a lot less oil! In fact, depending on the recipe and whether you did a rising in an oiled bowl, you might not have to add any additional oil to your pan.
I should talk about seasoning cast iron too at some point, but that’s another post!
Happy baking!
Megsanity says
Love my cast iron! I use it for everything.
Valerie Remy-Milora says
Wow! I had no idea I shouldn’t wash my bake ware every time I use it but this makes perfect sense. I think I can live with dry wiping. I love cast iron but for whatever reason I don’t use it for baking. I might have to rethink that.
Erin says
Ha, I do this with my loaf pans because I bake bread all the time, but I was secretive about it because it seemed lazy. Now I will proclaim baking wisdom instead. 😉
Food Retro says
You were ahead of the game and you didn’t even know it! 😉
Nancy says
So I know you’re not supposed to wash cast iron, but non-stick I hand-wash because I think the dishwasher would probably destroy it over time. Huh.
Food Retro says
Yup, it does. But steel and non-stick, you can actually wash… almost never, with yeast bread. 🙂 Steel will build up a proper polymerized seasoning, a brownish sort of patina from the oil over time. The oil in a nonstick won’t polymerize the same way, but you can still dry wipe any remaining crust of bread out and pretty much reuse it as is, sometimes 4 times in a row without adding extra grease.
Christella says
It’s basically like no shampoo rule, but for your bakeware. LOL
Jenn @YouPinspireMe says
Speaking as the chastising friend, I thank you for sharing these tips with the world. 🙂