Article about Baking Pans

Variety of These Pans Available

Baking Pans - in need of some? This page has a number of pans you may need or be interested in.

For information about what materials you might prefer, you can click on bakeware or bakeware sets or a page specifically about cake pans.

Sheet Pan or Cookie Pan

This is basically just a flat piece of material (usually metal) with an end turned up slightly or with all the sides having about a 1/4 inch "lip" for runnier batters.

These pans are used to bake cookies, biscuits and pastries.

Buy a heavy weight sheet pan that won't warp.

You might also want to line your sheet pan with a silicone baking mat.

If you have one you don't need parchment paper and it makes cleanup a breeze.

Bread or Loaf Pan

These baking pans are usually used to bake a single loaf of bread. These pans are most frequently rectangular in shape and deep walled.

Baking Pans

French Bread Pan

French bread pans and other shapes are available as well.

They are designed to produce a semi-crisp crust with an evenly textured crumb, but not all pans perform equally well.

This Le Creuset Loaf Pan is really great for baking breads.

Loaf pans range in size from 5 to 14 inches in length and 3 to 5 inches in width, with a 2 1/2 to 4 inch sidewall.

A standard one pound loaf pan is 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches in size. These and larger loaf pans are also used to cook meatloaf.

Smaller sized loaf pans work well for making gift or dessert loaves that can be cooked in less time.

This pan is typically used for items like meatloaf but the bottom pan can be used for baking bread.

Muffin Pan or Muffin Tin

Its name says it all ...muffins and cupcakes.

These pans will have 6 or 12 individual round pockets to form the shape of a muffin or cupcake. The batter is poured into the pockets and as the muffin or cupcake bakes, a top forms above the pocket while the base of the muffin is baked in the shape of the cup.

Mini Muffin Pans

The pans are commonly available in 3 sizes: mini muffins or mini cupcakes about 1 1/2 inches in diameter; standard size approximately 2 3/4 inches and large muffins about 4 inches in diameter.

Jelly Roll Pan

This pan looks much like a "sided" (rolled rimmed) sheet pan and can be used for the same purposes.

The baking pan is actually designed to bake a thin cake that is coated with a layer of jelly and then rolled up into what is known as a "jelly roll."

The most common sizes for home use are about 10 x 15 inches and 12 x 17 inches or 13 x 18.

Personally, my sheet pan serves this purpose.

Pie Plate or Pie Tin

Pie plates or pie tins are used to bake single crust and double crust pies.

These round baking dishes have shallow slanted sides that are 1 to 1 1/2 inches deep. The most common sizes for pie plates are 8, 9 and 10 inch diameters.

You can also purchase a deep dish variety that has slanted sides that are 2 to 2 1/2 inches deep and range from 9 to 11 inches in diameter.

Bundt Pan

A bundt pan is generally used for baking coffee cakes and sweet cakes called bundt cakes.

This pan is constructed with heavy sides, a decorative indented curvature and a hollow tube in the center so cake batters can rise and bake uniformly.

After the cake is baked the pan is turned over so the firm cake falls out onto a plate, producing a decoratively shaped cake.

Tube Pan or Angel Food Cake Pan

Constructed similarly to a bundt pan. It is a deep baking pan with a hollow tube in the middle and is used for baking angel food and sponge cakes.

Tube pans can be made as a single pan or as two pieces of metal consisting of a side and a flat round bottom that is removable.

Spring Form Pan

These baking pans are round and have removable sides to make it easier to remove a cheesecake or torte from the pan.

It is important when selecting a spring form pan that the sides and the base fit securely together.

They range in size from 8 to 12 inches in diameter with high sides of 2 1/2 to 3 inches.

Tart Pan

A tart pan is a round or oblong shallow pan with either a smooth or fluted side with a removable bottom.

Tart pans are available in various sizes so tarts can be served as individual round servings or as pie-shaped servings.

Now if you have a little time to do some more research on what specific baking pan you might want to purchase for yourself or for someone you know who loves to bake, start at Amazon.com and read customer reviews of the products.

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