Baked delicacies, desserts or tea-time gobbles have evolved over time from being served only on sophisticated royal tables to every common household over the centuries. Gone are the days when bakeware were considered an extravagance. Today almost every household has an amateur, if not a professional baker who fonders over their collection of carefully collected bakeware. Baking has become a common day-to-day activity rather than being just a holiday spirit. In this golden age of baking, choosing the right bakeware is what makes the art a beginner’s success. Be it a toddler or a professional in the art of baking, the right bakeware makes all the difference.
BAKEWARE FACTORS TO CONSIDER:
Getting ones hands on the right kind of bakeware is a true battle. But a baker knows his specifications and usually tends to build his toolkit of necessities over time. From what we decide to cook to how we want it cooked, everything factors into choosing the right dish for baking. Here is a quick checklist of things to look into while going on a bakeware hunt!
KINDS OF DISHES THAT POP INTO AN OVEN:
To focus on just the basics, there are an array of trays, pans, tins and racks to choose from to create a starting lineup. It is important to know your dish before choosing from the ocean of options available in the market. Basically bread loaves go into trays and tins while cookies go on wide trays that accommodate even baking.
SIZE AND SHAPE MATTERS:
While there are umpteen size options available, it is often safe to say that sticking with the standard size has its own benefits. Most of the online tutorials and video guides use these standard sizes to avoid proportion mistakes in the recipe. But if experimenting is your style, you can definitely go rogue with the sizes.
Honestly, everyone is excited to try new shapes, be it cookies or cupcakes. The shape and décor of a cake can uplift the entire theme of an event and can be the talk of the day. From fancy tiered cakes to custom made pastries, it is important to choose the right shape of bakeware starting from beginner level to advanced options to keep the baking spirit high and lifted.
MAKE OF THE BAKEWARE:
While the art of baking dates back to stoneware and clay pots, today we have them in variants of glass, ceramic, cast iron, aluminium, silicone and non-stick coated steel.
While each of these have advantages of its own, aluminium and aluminized steel bakeware stand out as some of the most economical and handy-to-use bakeware materials without any debate.
While choosing the bakewares material it is important to analyse the temperature it will be subjected to, as we don’t want it getting warped in the oven. It has to have a good restrain and its better to seek out sturdy ones and avoid flimsy thin ones.
With easy accessibility in various sizes and shapes, simple clean-up routine, to their high rate of durability that can run on and on for years, they make an excellent choice for both professional and amateur bakers, even the ones with zero experience. They even account for even inside-out baking making them ideal for making almost every baked delicacy.
TEXTURE AND FEATURES:
If baking is art, then the art lies in its details. Like any art form the true beauty of any baked good lies in it’s detailing. Browned edges, mushy insides, crispy exteriors, non-sticky nature, held up fragrance, every nuance makes a difference and a good baker knows it. A seasoned baker knows not to ignore the texture and features of the bakeware. Most markets today have bakewares that are nonstick and handy to use, textured with a rugged finish and straight cut pans that give an edgy professional look. One needs to have an eye on these specifications if one wishes on being an expert.
We also have pans and dishes in both dark and light finishes. Lighter pans account for more even baking while darker pans provide a crispier and brownier edge. Knowledge of these minute details is what baking is all about. While the common goal is to pop the dough into an oven and have a baked, non-burnt output, its essential that one knows these mantras of baking.
There are also specially curated bakewares for few high end ovens that are available in the market. Not every bakeware can be popped into those ovens. Specific enlisted features need to be ticked off to fit in a dish into it.
THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO ON A BAKING SPREE:
It is best to know your bakewares better if you aim for a baking win. In the science of baking, bakewares amount to half the success factor. Despite the ever growing options to choose from, there are always few safe options to consider while hauling bakewares like sticking to aluminum bakewares with standard size specifications.
Aluminized bakewares have proven over time to be the safest option as far as health is concerned. It is easy to handle and clean. It’s even heat conducting capacity counts as a plus in thorough cooking of the ingredients leaving no room for soggy or half baked disappointments. It distributes the temperature quite evenly. It is quite affordable compared to its counterparts making it economical and easily accessisible at the same time. It is often over-the-counter option in most stores and online websites.
“One thing many beginner bakers forget to think about is how their baking pan is going to react with the ingredients. Using glassware or metal baking dishes is going to result in different outcomes because they have different properties.”-Shelly Westerhausen
Now that you have all the expertise of a seasoned baker in choosing bakewares, it’s time to go on a shopping haul, create your own taste of toolkit and bake away! Don’t you forget- ‘Baking is a science and bakewares constitute an important part of the success equation’? Happy baking!
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