Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Hi folks,
I've been doing some bread baking and at the request of my kids would like to get some large nonstick* bread pans made of stainless steel or aluminum that could bake a loaf of sandwich bread that looks like it came from the grocery store. I have found some that look ideal but the shipping cost is brutal. See https://www.webstaurantstore.com/vollra ... 25435.html. Is there something cheaper on the market? I never see these used at thrift stores.

*No nasty chemicals please.

It is very common for restaurants to go out of business. This is a great opportunity to get commercial cooking gear at bargain rates. Try your local auction houses, to see which ones handle business liquidations. Most will have some form of online auction system, by now.

Sur La Table is having a huge sale. I like all-clad stuff but I think they have the Nordic Ware stuff on clearance.

jennypenny wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 7:07 am

Sur La Table is having a huge sale. I like all-clad stuff but I think they have the Nordic Ware stuff on clearance.

I found . this on Sur La Table: https://www.surlatable.com/11-glass-loa ... xUQAvD_BwE. It's the right price and the height and width seem fine but only 3 inches high. Can I make a grocery store style loaf in such a shallow pan?

Perspective on alternatives: I use glass and silicone pans to bake bread regularly (I haven't bought bread in probably 7 or 8 years?). I prefer the former, since the bread holds its form well. I grease the pan with a tiniest bit of oil before adding the loaf, and have never had problems with it sticking otherwise. The silicone pan requires no grease, I would say its only downside is when the bread has been left to rise, it is easy to deflate it when shifting to the oven. I wouldn't see any reason to use pans with a special non stick coating.

I don’t make this kind of bread, but you might want a Pullman loaf pan, or two, depending on your production volume.

E.g. these are silicone-coated aluminized steel:

Minimalist
https://www.amazon.com/USA-Pan-1175PM-B ... 00DUF1TUW/

Maximalist
https://www.amazon.com/USA-Pan-1175PM-B ... 07GJ3ZCP8/

Here’s a recipe example:

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/201 ... ecipe.html

eta: i remember you make gluten-free breads so this is just to show how that pan operates

As a former owner of a bakery, I found that the pans that produce the best results are steel pans which are browned by frequent use and years of baked in baking grease. The dark color allows for better heat transfer and results in brown loaves. Silver, new pans are quite difficult to get a good loaf out of.

sky wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:33 am

As a former owner of a bakery,

going off a tangent, would love to hear more on this some time

We get most new kitchen gear from our local restaurant supply store. In any given major city there is probably at least one of these, they sell commercial-grade equipment, and prices are slightly cheaper than Amazon (at least Canadian Amazon).

I have a steel pan and a non-stick coated one. After five years of regular use with oil the steel pan releases cleanly (with some baking parchment on the flat bottom as insurance). It is well-seasoned, dark brown from polymerized oil at this point. The non-stick one has instead gotten worse after three years of regular use, to the point of requiring a full lining of baking parchment to avoid sticking. It still looks shiny and new. I think for long-term use, seasoned steel or silicone are probably the best options.

sky wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:33 am

As a former owner of a bakery, I found that the pans that produce the best results are steel pans which are browned by frequent use and years of baked in baking grease. The dark color allows for better heat transfer and results in brown loaves. Silver, new pans are quite difficult to get a good loaf out of.

Interesting, I still struggle with my loaves sticking to one of these industrial type steel pans, despite the seasoning being well established and copious amounts of butter lining the pan. I'll usually have to employ a knife to extract the loaf. I've largely given up on uniformly sharped loaves and just bake cobs with a paddle and a baking stone (like this), there's less cleaning up after too. The only two reasons I can think of needing a loaf tin, is to make slices fit nicely in standard sized sandwich tupperware containers, or to fit in our toaster. There are alternative solutions to both problems, so I have no qualms about sticking with cobs.