How to Choose The Most Suitable Baking Pans For Your Recipes

The oven allows us to bring to the table infinite recipes, sweet and savory, ensuring uniform cooking even for long periods and at high temperatures: all this, however, is only possible using the right pan, a fundamental element for the success of your dish. In the kitchen, improvisation is undoubtedly an excellent ingredient, but those who love cooking know well that for each preparation there are its own utensils and the right tools and the oven is no exception. Round, square, rectangular or round, ceramic, stainless steel or glass: each baking pan has its own characteristics and for each a specific preparation is foreseen or recommended. To cook meat, roasts, foil or fish for example, you will need a pan with low edges, also excellent for baking fragrant homemade biscuits. The right material? Even in this case the answer is strictly linked to the recipe you have in mind and is not at all obvious as it may seem.

Which pans go in the oven? How to calculate the size of the pan and the diameter of a cake pan? And what pan can lasagna go in? Don't worry, here is a simple and complete guide to help you navigate the fantastic world of baking pans and choose the one that best suits your needs.

Shape and Size

When we say that every recipe deserves its own pan, we are not joking at all and you only need to look at the infinite number of pans that we find on the market to understand it. When choosing the right pan for the preparation you have in mind, let's start with the shape: To prepare meat or fish-based dishes such as roasts or parcels, opt for a rectangular or square pan (depending on the quantity of what you are going to bake) that has edges at least five centimeters high so as to prevent the meat or fish juices from leaking out.

Lasagna? If you want to make grandma proud of you , don't choose the wrong pan: it must be rectangular and tall, also ideal for flans and gratin vegetables. To prepare a poundcake worthy of the name, the pan is rectangular and long: but be careful not to fill it more than two-thirds full or you will lose all the work done. About round pans and with low edges: they are perfect for rollable sponge cakes, tarts, rustic and focaccia; for pizza instead the edge must be higher, otherwise the dough, leavening and cooking, risks coming out. The one with the hole in the center? Perfect for ciambelle and bundt cakes, they were designed specifically for that type of delicacy.

The Material

Probably the most important factor in choosing the right pan is the material and, here too, we can find many different types on the market. Specifically, we can choose between pans in:

• Aluminum: excellent conductor of heat and not prone to rusting, if you choose an aluminum pan it is better to make sure it has high edges and, if necessary, do not forget to line it with baking paper.
• Ceramic or porcelain: less easy to handle because they are heavier, ceramic or porcelain pans retain the heat of the cooked food even when removed from the oven. Excellent for lasagna and vegetable casseroles.
• Borosilicate glass or Pyrex: similar in structure and use to ceramic pans, those made of borosilicate glass can also go in the refrigerator, as long as it, along with the contents, has by now cooled down.
• Silicone: increasingly common and appreciated, silicone pans are flexible, non-stick and can be used at low or high temperatures. Among the advantages of this material is the fact that they do not need to be oiled or buttered and therefore we can use them to prepare "lighter" recipes.

Surface

After choosing the right size, material and height, it is essential to pay attention to the surface. Why? Because just like pans, baking trays can undergo treatments that allow for better temperature retention, more uniform cooking and better and longer-lasting preservation. Non-stick surfaces allow you to reduce the use of fats such as butter and oil and do not require a lining of baking paper. The coatings can be chemical (but not harmful to our health) or with ceramic or silicone finishes: the type of coating is strictly linked to the temperature limit, and it is therefore essential to pay attention to the choice based on the recipe you want to prepare.