Stuck on you: a bakers's guide to non-stick baking
Post categories: baking
| 10:30 UK time, Wednesday, 9 May 2012
As I鈥檓 writing and testing recipes so often with loads of variations and, to be honest, failures, I have to have some things that never let me down. A fridge that always works, an oven that鈥檚 dependable (ok, the door is a bit iffy), and I aim to make sure the things I bake never, ever stick to the tins.
When I work in bakeries we use all sorts of expensive tricks: aerosol sprays, plastic film for blind-baking pastry cases, silicone baking mats or endless sheets of silicone-coated non-stick paper.
But at home, these high-end options are often not worth the expense if you鈥檙e only baking occasionally. So gleaming there in the shops temptingly, typically with a celebrity chef endorsement, is non-stick bakeware, coated with chemicals that stop some mixtures sticking to it.
The history
But before these coatings were invented, cooks tackled this sticky problem using other techniques. I spoke with food historian , who has looked into the history in detail.
鈥淭he Victorian chef is quite specific on how to prepare ornate baking tins,鈥 said Ivan, 鈥渁nd insisted on using calves鈥 suet as the flavour was very neutral. Beef dripping wasn鈥檛 recommended for preparing tins for sweet cakes and pastry as it had a pronounced meatiness, though it might be mixed half-and-half with clarified butter.鈥
To use it, Gouff茅 recommends warming the tin first, spooning the melted suet in and swirling it around to coat the inside evenly before placing it on an angle to drain and allow any steam to escape. This last step is important, says Ivan, as moisture in this fat 鈥渓ining鈥 could cause the cake to stick.
Cake mould depicting the Pieta from the Alsatian museum in Strasbourg, France. Image credit:听Ji-elle, Wikimedia, under a creative commons license.
Then a cupful of caster sugar would be rolled around听the tin听so it stuck evenly to the fat, and any excess tapped out - forming a fine layer on the fat that would seal the surface of the cake as it baked.听A half-and-half mix of sifted flour and sugar was very effective, or potato starch and sugar. Then, after baking, the cakes would be left for 10 minutes before being turned out. 鈥淚 know it sounds very elaborate today,鈥 says Ivan, 鈥渂ut the results were often fantastic, especially if a very was used.鈥
You can still use this method today, with any fat that sets hard at room temperature, like clarified butter, lard, dripping, palm oil, coconut oil, or other vegetable fats. I prefer to use only flour as the next coating on the fat, though sugar is still useful for the inside of a souffl茅 dish.
Pros: this method allows you to use very complicated tin shapes and is easy to do with home ingredients.
Cons: Loads of washing up to do afterwards, and adds time to the recipe as you have to prepare the tin carefully.
Non-stick sprays
You can get, in pump bottle or aerosol, a liquid that contains vegetable oil and typically an emulsifier like lecithin that forms a layer between the mixture and the tin and helps stop the cake from sticking. Really good if you鈥檙e short of time, though I have weaned myself off a dependence on them. They can leave a build-up on aluminium trays if exposed to direct heat without a covering of mixture or dough.
Pros: very easy and quick to use, and fairly dependable for cake mixtures.
Cons: A bit expensive. You鈥檙e left with a fair amount of packaging to dispose of so there are environmental concerns too.
Brown, greaseproof and siliconised baking paper
Though plain trays could be coated the same way, sometimes oiled paper was used for small cakes, meringues and biscuits. The big hassle in my home growing up was washing the tin with cake stuck to it, so my mum just used brown paper 鈥 this was the time when groceries were packed into brown paper bags 鈥 rubbed with sunflower oil so it turned translucent. This would be cut and folded into the tin and, even though the cake stuck to it and the paper has to be torn off, the mixture wouldn鈥檛 stick to the tin.
Greaseproof or straight baking paper works the same way, and will grip onto food in fiercest way. However, if your baking paper is described as 鈥渘on-stick鈥 or has the word 鈥渟iliconised鈥 written on the box, then this usually won鈥檛 stick. It is more expensive, but it can be used at least 3-4 times before it starts to tear. Just remove the paper after baking, let it cool, the place it carefully away until next time.
Pros: so cheap to do so long as you collect your paper bags, or reuse your baking paper; and avoids washing up.
Cons: Unless the paper is coated with silicone, the food will stick to it.
Silicone bakeware and sheets
In small commercial bakeries you鈥檒l usually find a silicone baking mat lurking somewhere. Flexible and strong, reinforced with threads of fiberglass, it forms a non-stick surface that works very well with tricky high-sugar mixtures. You can bake directly on it, and it鈥檚 food safe and easy to clean. They鈥檙e expensive, but one to buy if you want a reusable long-lasting solution for flat baking sheets.
Lately you will have seen, or own, 鈥渢ins鈥 made entirely of silicone moulded like rubber. This should provide a complete non-stick surface but when turning out hot foods, like a molten chocolate cake, the steam can cause a suction effect and cause the mixture to stick. These moulds typically have soft rounded edges, are flexible, and lightweight but slightly unstable when filled.
Pros: excellent durability if looked after, light to hold and easy to clean. Provides a very good non-stick surface
Cons: Can be unstable when moving into or out of oven
Teflon and other non-stick surfaces
Nearly all metal bakeware is now available with a non-stick coating. There鈥檚 a multi-billion pound coatings industry behind these quick-release surfaces and given the potential money to be made there鈥檚 competition in providing the best result.
New ceramic surfaces are starting to appear on the market, but predominantly non-stick bakeware uses one or more coats of tough fluoropolymers locked 鈥減ermanently鈥 into place through further chemical and temperature treatments.
The most well-known of these coatings is Teflon, which uses a chemical called polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) to create a very low-friction surface that should, in theory, cause many food to slide right off during baking. But though Teflon has become a generic term for non-stick it should correctly be used for the type Dupont make, as there are many other types of non-stick coating, using various chemicals to achieve a similar effect: like perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) and fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP).
I always end up scratching the surface in some way, don鈥檛 always clean in the corners properly, so very soon into use my food begins to stick. And when that happens I end up lining the non-stick bakeware with non-stick paper. So to be frank I鈥檓 often just as happy with the old-fashioned tins, either spankingly new or just vintage ones from car boot sales, and with paper or the butter/flour combination ensure that my cakes don鈥檛 stick. It鈥檚 what my mum did, and her mum too, and sometimes that鈥檚 reason enough.
How important is non-stick bakeware for you? What approach do you take?
Comment number 1.
At 10th May 2012, dogsbody wrote:I just wanted to put in a good word for hard-anodised bakeware, which is completely brilliant for baking trays/sheets. I don't know exactly how the science works but they start out a bit 'non-stick' but don't have an actual coating (like Teflon) so can withstand metal utensils too. The best bit is, like your favourite cast-iron pan, they eventually 'season' to be completely non-stick.
Brilliant for biscuits/cookies and quiches/tarts if you use one of those rings, not to mention chips, fish fingers and pizzas for the kids' tea!
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Comment number 2.
At 10th May 2012, ZebinBristol wrote:I hate lining tins with paper, especially the giant Silverwood expanding and collapsing one which I had to line to make some buns the other day, but I do it with gritted teeth and have a weakness for those nice pre cut squares and circles and the long cake ribbon one of baking parchment you can get online. Anything to get me over the 'oh no I have to line the cake tin hump'. I never line bread tins, but butter and shake flour in and out to coat them. My Swedish Aunt uses butter and breadcrumbs to line cake tins, she says it's traditional and it always seems to work when she does it. Cake seems to stick more than bread though, or maybe it is just me. In the meantime where do I find some traditional tins for baking pasteis de nata - they have to be the old fashioned sort. The only thing I would add to your piece is that both baking parchment and silicon have temperature limits and it varies according to manufacturer. I wish Mermaid made high straight sided bread tins out of their anodised aluminium, that's a great material too, you can use metal spatulas on it and everything.
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Comment number 3.
At 10th May 2012, looksalot wrote:I generally use non-stick for baking but tend to line with greaseproof paper as well for cakes. I am REALLY strict about not using metal implements on my non stick bakeware. I am not keen on silicon bakeware - I know people use it to great effect but it just seems a bit wrong to me to have squidgy cake tin!
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Comment number 4.
At 10th May 2012, Emily Angle wrote:I agree on the silicone bakeware front, for cakes anyway. I've found that it doesn't hold the shape and I end up with oddly bulbous baked goods. There's also a problem with uneven browning.
A well-lined cake tin with crisp edges is very pleasing and reliable. But my mum always just did a grease and flour on her tins.
(Do also go for those lecithin solutions occasionally...)
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Comment number 5.
At 10th May 2012, madmacaw wrote:I am relatively new to baking but I have made a mix of vegetable oil/fat and plain flour which I then apply with a brush to the tin. I find this easier than seperately oiling and then trying to chase flour around the pan.
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Comment number 6.
At 11th May 2012, Bakerboy67 wrote:I simply use a small bottle of "Bakers Release Oil" that I get from kitchenfoods.co.uk, works a treat on pretty much anything
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