Q: Can you use aluminum foil to cover your dark baking sheet to imitate a shiny baking sheet effect for baking? A: It's not just the shininess of the surface the food touches, but the shininess of the baking sheet itself that results in a different rate of energy transfer. Some of my baking sheets are black underneath, but relatively light on top and they still brown extremely fast. Since the heat element is on the bottom of the oven, I am guessing that it might make a bigger difference to put the foil under the baking sheet to reflect the heat instead of putting it inside the baking sheet. But I haven't tested that. Also keep in mind that using foil when a baking recipe calls for parchment will make a difference in how some recipes perform. Q: Why can't you just buy a black baking sheet? A: You can! I haven't tried them for 2 reasons. The ones that are black because of a non-stick coating are flimsy, they warp, and the coating wears off. The ones that are black because they are made of blue steel (they are similar to cast iron) are heavy, expensive, and a pain to take care of (they need immediate drying so that they don't rust). If you have some black baking sheets that you love, let me know. I hear that in Europe, many ovens come with enamel coated black baking sheets. I haven't seen that in the US. Some of you commented that in Europe baking sheets are typically black and they are used for everything including baked goods. I am not saying that any black baking sheet is bad for baked goods. It's a combination of many factors -- the material of the baking sheet, how your oven works (in Europe there is usually a heating element on top and bottom and in the US only on the bottom), whether the convection fan is used, etc. But if you compare apples to apples (two identical baking sheets where the only difference is the color), the darker baking sheet will brown faster.
I am from europe and my baking sheet is black and very light but not non stick coated it maight be enamel. But ever since I've seen you baking sheet video I'm glad they are black. I always used to want the shiny ones cause they look pretty.
I'm in the UK and my black baking sheets are vitreous enamel (similar to what's used on enameled cast iron, I think?) and it works great, I don't bake often but I might invest in a plain shiny sheet for the odd occasion where I do!
My oven came with a black sheet too (Netherlands) but it was just black paint of low quality that got destroyed after a single wash in the dishwasher. Most ovens here (except tiny toaster ovens) seem to have both convection and heat elements on top and bottom (individually controlled), unless you're using a gas model, which doesn't seem to be the norm (and they're usually much more expensive). I tend to gravitate towards non sticky pans, even if I am lining them, or glass (since it can be also used in the microwave or if I want to use microwave + heat). I also have a couple of cheap IKEA frying pans (non sticky, of course) that I use in the oven (I didn't install the handle intentionally) and they seem to have better quality than any baking pan, since they're much thicker at the bottom. Can't use that for large preparations, obviously, but very handy for a single person or a side dish. I also love to use the rice cooker bowl to bake cakes (non sticky).
Don't get me wrong here -- I love and appreciate your cooking knowledge, but the thing that keeps me coming back is the reasonable approach: you give the facts as you know them and you allow others the room to hold differing opinions. It is a treat to hear someone talk on any topic with such reasonableness and respect! Bravo!
My mind is blown! Came to the internet for poached eggs ideas, and found a channel with an encyclopedia of cooking tips, presented thoroughly, with humility, with knowledge and with flair! Who even knew I had to much more to learn about baking sheet liners...but I did. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Ha, this is no doubt the best lesson on basic cooking I have ever had. My wife kept saying, clean that pan sheet pan, scour it. And, now I learn that all the browning was good? Thank you, Helen, for your great instructions.
Greetings: amen 🙏 alleluia: ( fwiw ) this video presentation is outstanding: wonderful: again, this video presentation is outstanding; plan to put these amazing 😉 culinary preparation ideas 💡 into effect very, very, very soon
Greetings: amen 🙏 alleluia: special intention: ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Love, be very, very, very safe and , in thanksgiving, wishing you a happy 😃 blessed glorious day
20 years ago i thought my mum got crazy when she told me that in her new shiny stainless steel dutch oven she doesn't get the browning she wants. After getting a dark one (enamel coated) she was happy again. Today i understand what it was about - thank you! In germany we usually don't have the aluminum sheet-trays, but big (size of the whole oven) enamel coated trays (dark). They can do anything - an can stay in the oven during pyrolyse - together with my baking-stone for bread (the 750f+ cleaning cycle). Both (dutch oven and tray) are as good as non-stick (but shouldn't go into the dishwasher). I only use the (small) aluminium trays with a fitting wire-rack in it if i'm going to make a mess (e.g. broiling a small amount of chicken) as the small ones fit into my dishwasher (yes, i'm very lazy in regards to cleaning things by hand :D ) For baking i'm curious because it seems bread + breadrolls brown much slower when i use a paper on my stone. I''d assume that that small piece of paper can't potentially hold much heat back - and especially transferring rolls is much more convinient with paper - but i'll test that in a few hours when my dough is proofed.
I feel the same way about silicone sheets. I love them for the few uses they are great for, and find them useless otherwise. Here's how I figured out a great way to dry them. Drape a kitchen towel over the handle of your oven or stove if it's the kind that goes all the way across. Many people alrready do this just because it's a good place to keep a kitchen towel. Now drape the silicone sheet over that. Most can dry in the air and the bit that touches the towel has the towel wick the moisture awy, and isn't enough to do more than barely dampen the towel, so no water spots on the handle. Works extremely well.
I dry my silicone mats by wiping them with a dry dish towel, then hanging them to air dry from my cooktop's metal vent hood with a small strong magnet. I obviously do this when I'm not planning to cook for a few hours.
Hi Helen, Love your channel. I have a sheet pan that is perfectly seasoned, why? because I always bake my bacon on it. That is a great way to get a dark well- seasoned pan in a relatively short amount of time.
I thought I was the only one who hadn't figured out how to easily clean and dry my Silpat. So many other people swear by them, but I've run into the same issues as you Helen
Today I’m making sourdough pretzels for the first time in a few years and I thought I would post that they are a great use for silpats. When you wash your pretzels in lye (or even in baked baking soda as some people do), they will stick to parchment once baked to the point where it’s impossible to peel it off completely. They will also discolor your sheet trays. Silicone mats are perfect for them.
Hi Helen! I know you posted a different video specifically about seasoning aluminum baking sheets, but I wanted to let you in on a little trick I use for that. For the baking sheets that I want to use for roasting/browning, I throw the new shiny silver sheet through the dishwasher once or twice when I need to do a load. This accomplishes 2 things: (1) it helps to give the sheet a much darker color that is more of a light bronze instead of silver. (2) it chemically alters the shiny surface to make it much rougher, and that allows the "seasoning" to grab onto it a lot more easily. I hope this helps! Try it sometime when you get a new sheet! **EDIT** I finished your video now, and I do want to stick up a little bit for the silicone mats! :) Yes, everything you have said about them is true; they aren't as good for getting crispy edges on cookies, they can be a bit awkward to clean, and they also can absorb odors, but there are times silicone is so useful! For example, when you were telling us about how you were having trouble with baked goods burning on the bottoms, silicone is absolutely wonderful for this, because of its low thermal conductivity and capacity. For example, how many of those RUclips videos of homemade sourdough with cast iron HIDE the bottom of the loaf? Sometimes if you're paying attention, you can see that their bottoms are charred, which means the ENTIRE loaf will carry a slight acrid odor. But the problem is that you need ripping hot cast iron in order to get that heat for a good rise/ear. So what I have learned to do is to slide a silicone mat underneath my bread after the rise is done, so I can let the top and sides brown nicely without having to worry about the bottom crust burning. I works amazingly well! Some other great uses for silicone mats are for freezing items. When I want to "IQF" something like homemade gnocchi, cookies, pasta, meatballs, stuffed brie, etc, or also if I just want to firm something up in the freezer before working with it, silicone works so well because of its non-stick properties. Sometimes things get a teensy bit clingy to the mat, but nowhere near as much as they do on a bare sheet. Sure, I could use parchment paper for this, but it feels so wasteful and uneconomical when I am trying to save money by doing things in bulk and freezing. Plus sometimes the paper can rip when something sticks to it, whereas with silicone I can just flip it over and peel it off. As for cleaning them, I have found that the best way to make them NOT be a PITA is to do the following: In a clean sink, I press it flat in the bottom of the sink and just gently scrub with the soft side of the sponge and dish soap. Flip and repeat. THIS IS THE IMPORTANT STEP. You have to rinse it properly, or it still has that sort of "greasy" feel to it. Silicone tools in general really need this step. Once you have rinsed all the suds off, keep the warm water running with the mat still in the bottom of the sink (it's ok if it plugs the drain a little) and rub the clean water all over the surface of the mat. Flip and repeat. Now the mat should feel much more "tacky," and then you can dry. I personally got rid of my drying rack in my kitchen years ago, but even if I had one, I would probably not dry the mat in there anyway. I would just lay a clean towel on the counter and place the mat flat on top of it. Then I press my hands down on the mat and slide them around while pushing the mat into the towel. Flip and repeat. Boom, done! I have a war on drying racks. Maybe I'll do a video on it one day if/when I start my own channel. They take up SO much space and they are hideous. You either have a giant pile of water-spotted dishes on your counter, or you have this big, ugly empty rack on the counter. And if you store it away, it takes up so much cabinet space! And then they get all grimy and gross over time if you don't clean them. Now, I just keep 2 towels on hangers in my kitchen that are my "drying rack." When it's time to do the dishes, I just lay them side-by-side on the clean counter and put all of my wet dishes on them while cleaning, stacking/angling them so they still can get air underneath. When I'm done cleaning, I can just dry them and put them and the towels away, and have a very clean look to the counter. Or if you really want, you could, just let them air dry and hang the towels when you're done. But either way, you don't need a bulky rack with dangerously teetering dishes. When I figured that out, I was so happy to get rid of that awful drying rack and reclaim my precious kitchen space.
I have a "dimpled jelly roll pan" (seasoned) I use for roasting root vegetables and it works very well... the raised dimples create less surface area for the food to stick to.... also, .... Jelly roll pans are a bit less prone to warping as the dimples help strengthen the pan. Cheers from Canada! 🇨🇦😃😃
Always informative, backed up by experience and relevant experiments. Your honesty, candour and humour are compelling, and I always learn so much from you. The “try it and see” methodology is essential to improving any skill based effort. Thank you!
I have a lot of uses for my silicon mats. They were my Mothers before, they were mine. When I toast squash seeds they are the best option. The seeds don't stick so I can easily stir them as they dry and then toast up. I also very much like them for egg-based things meringue, and such. They work well for keeping french toast warm, well there are many uses for them.
I switched from foil to the silicone sheets to cut down on costs and where I am the foil cannot be recycled. I also don't have to worry about foil being out of stock. I have found that the silicone provides better crisping on a number of items so I am glad I made the switch for that reason also. I totally agree with the washing and drying issues.
@@Dezhavu13 I got a giant one that covers the entire bottom of my oven at Aldi 😁. My oven doesn't have the self-cleaning function so it maxes out at 500°F and this keeps stuff from cooking on and it's way easier to clean so I get you. I got 2 1/4 sheet silpats on clearance when they were remodeling my local supermarket. I'd been looking for something half sheet or full sheet sized but wasn't sure if I should go with or without the fiberglass.
What a fine explanation on when to use lining. The good ting is that you explain the WHY making the knowledge stick, just like another of my favorite WebChefs Chef Jean-Pierre 🙂
I thought the idea of foil being dangerous was so thoroughly debunked, that I assumed that the negatives she was about to mention had more to do with adding more aluminum foil to landfills.
Have you heard of parchment paper roll? You can cut the paper bigger than the baking sheet and prevent leakage under the paper. You can also mix your veggies with oil and seasoning on it no problem.
thank you for another great video! silicone pad was my absolute saving grace when I was making medovik--those thin layers of sticky dough baked beautifully on it in the oven; but I agree that this is a very niche product for very particular purposes. re: sticking potatoes, I found that using a ceramic dish solves that issue--just drizzle some sunflower seed oil on it, and the baked spears will come right off without sticking.
Wow. I did not realize how important the color of a baking sheet could be. I am going to roast some broccoli and cauliflower on a DARK, UNLINED sheet. I will probably be thanking you when they come out wonderfully roasted. I often struggle to get good browning when roasting. Now I may know why... lol
I really enjoy my silicone mat for making candied nuts, citrus and the like. Way less sticky and easier to get up off of the mat. They're not for everything,, but I like mine. Love your videos as always. Thanks for all the hard work 🖤
I have a pair of aluminum quarter-sheets that I use with silicon mats all the time. I wash both by hand (maybe the only thing I wash by hand), and dry the silicon mat by laying it on half the dish towel, then folding the other half over it. Works fine, they're not sticky afterward, and I launder the dish towel weekly. I don't deep-fry anything, and I use the sheet/mat combination for frozen french fries for my grandchildren and other frozen things that I don't want to stick to the pan. Thanks for the explanation of browning, though. I don't often bake cookies, but the next time I do, I won't use the silicon and will instead use my "regular" nonstck cookie sheet.
Helen, you’re a gem! Clear instructions, delivered in melodious voice and with a beautiful face. One question: I have some heavy, non-stick baking sheets which are dark grey in colour. They seem to bake everything without need for much cleaning, beyond sponge and hot soapy water. Sound like a solution? Enjoying your RUclips tutorials. Phil
If it works, it works :) how long have you had your baking sheets? how is the coating holding up? Can you send me a link to your baking sheets? e-mail is best since I might not see the follow up comment. helenrennie@gmail.com
Thanks Helen. Good information. I like the silicon or woven copper sheets on the grill, though. Of course if I ever go back to charcoal Im not sure that I will.
I also hate washing extra bowls--so I am 100% in agreement that skipping the parchment paper and tossing veggies with oil and salt on the sheet is the way to go. And I also own but hate to use my silpat because as you said, it really is a pain to clean. I do wash my cookie sheets in the dishwasher though, and have not had issues with sticking (except potatoes) or browning (maybe I use more fat than you?) but I will perform the wonderbread test. Love your sensible approach to cooking and no doubt life! You are a wonderful educator. Thank you.
Great overview, Helen. I have been able to resist buying a silicon mat and have a hard time finding quarter sheet parchment sheets that actually fit (for the two of us, and the sizes of our ovens, a quarter sheet pan is the perfect size). And I don't mind doing the washing up as the sheet pans clean up quite easily as long as you don't overcook in them.
All baking sheets in Finland are black and we use them for everything. They come like that and I've never seen a baking sheet like the ones you have in this video. We always use a parchment paper with everything. I bake a lot and I've never had a problem with stuff burning on the bottom
Do they have a Teflon coating on them something else? The pants in this video are just made out of a heavy change aluminum. Pans like this are quite common in commercial kitchens just bigger than the ones in this video.
Foil comes on a wide roll that fits a half sheet just fine. I use it all the time for cooking bacon in the oven. I can cook a full pound on a haf sheet. Clean up is super easy too. I drain the bacon on paper towels the lay the towels in the sheet pan to soak up most of the grease. Then just lift the foil out, fold it up and toss in the trash.
I use my silicone mats more for candy uses than baking. They're useful for the odd baking task, and I sometimes bake delicate items on them, but they're excellent for preventing melted sugar and chocolate from sticking. I've never found them hard to clean, though, and clean them by hand according to Silpat's recommendations. They are a pain to dry, though, because they're always touching something!
I have a few Silpat liners that were gifted to me several years ago and I never use the things-they really are a huge pain in the ass and I have yet to find a cooking application where they’re worth the trouble… Thank you for the validation!😂 I did get some use out of them when my kids were little during their Play-Doh (and later Sculpey) phase. The mats were really good work surfaces for that; non-stick and portable. ETA: I just remembered, we did use them one year when we got especially ambitious with making gingerbread houses; they worked well for melting hard candies when we made “glass” windows!
They are good for candy like brittle, tuiles (though I actually like the texture better on foil, but the silpat is easier), frico, and perforated ones work nicely for baking things like tarts (made in rings which have no bottom). I mostly use them when rolling out doughs (bread, pasta, empanadas, cookies, etc) because they keep the mess off your counter.
Oh no, Helen. You don't get to wiggle out of that one with a landmine at the end of your vid. Now you absolutely have to talk about the way the silicone sheets affect various kinds of sweet and savory baking and roasting and other things that you use those for. Looking forward to it. Happy New Year.
Father in law moved in with us last year. Recently I found him scrubbing my finally after 2 years well seasoned half baking sheet. He said "sorry but, I don't think I can get this all off. I have been trying for a half hour". I said thank you and cried in my bedroom.
Nordicware because those Vollrath sheet trays are highway robbery. Sheet trays are a cheap piece of kitchen equipment. Frankly those Nordicware ones are overpriced, too.
@@joepalmer75 Sheet pans and nonstick pans kind of fall into the realm of things that get replaced after a while if you use them heavily. It’s why spending a lot of money on them isn’t necessary. Though truthfully I’ve had the same sheet trays for many years and they get a lot of use. Since I have a fair amount none of them looks all that worn out.
@@annchovy6 I've thrown out all "non-stick" pans and have gone to cast iron though I have kept and cherish some SS pots and oversize skillet I bought in Austria about 30 years ago. Agree on sheet pans.
Thank you so much for this video. You answered questions I had concerning silicone baking sheets. By-the-way, I enjoy your channel very much and always learn something.
Target sells some nice WIDE rolls of aluminum foils that fit even pretty big pans pretty well. I just spray it with some oil to keep things from sticking and easy to clean.
The discussion of silicone mats was especially helpful for me: I've been thinking about buying one and now I won't. That $30 buys a lot of parchment paper, and I'll get better performance.
Awesome video! Maybe sometime in the future you get curious about trying other materials like non stick pans and glass (with and without lining) to see how they compare? Also, some ovens allow us to combine microwave, heat and even have convection fans (I never see you actively using convection in your recipes, would it help with some issues faced when baking or roasting?). I also wonder if combining microwave and regular heat would be helpful when we want to roast a large piece of meat, for example, so it cooks more evenly. There's an entire universe of new tech available for us to buy (which many of us own) but there's very few, if any, with your level of expertise that experiments with those devices and extract benefits from them we could also be using if we had enough knowledge about. It's also really refreshing to see how precise your instructions and measurements are (metric system is awesome!), that's really helpful! Thanks again for everything, I wish you a lovely weekend!
I put my silicon liners in the dishwasher but not the way you showed in the video. I have found if I bend them in half (like an upside down U) that they will "stand" between the prongs on the rack. I don't have issues with them falling onto anything else and they are dry at the end of the cycle. They still have that somewhat tacky feel but I am sure they are clean.
We reuse the parchment paper when baking. Had a problem with first batch (cookies) burning on the bottom. Last cookies the baking sheet was preheated and no burning.
I find that my potatoes stick a lot less if I preheat a lightly-oiled pan along with the oven. That still leaves me a bowl to wash, but since I've usually cut up the potatoes earlier in the day for other reasons, I was going to have to wash that bowl anyway.
Great video! It seems a bit silly for anyone to worry about the potential negative health effects of lining (or not lining) an aluminum pan with aluminum foil. I mean, if you don’t line it, the food is still cooked on top of aluminum. As for foil not being big enough for a half sheet pan, just go online and buy 18 inch wide foil. 12 inch foil sucks.
I use parchment paper when I make pizza. But it's mostly because It makes it easier to put the soft pizza in the oven and it's really easy to take out. And I don't have to clean my home-made pizza steel.
I'm laughing because I've been scrubbing the stuff off all these years thinking it was "dirty" and I don't want to cook with dirty dishes. Oops!!!! Now I know, TY!!
I use silicon mats for things I am cooking in the oven that have a chance to drip and burn, stuff like barbeque style oven ribs or chicken with a sweet marinade can drip and burn onto a baking sheet very easily, but a silicon mat is very easy to clean those burnt on bits off from compared to a baking sheet. Similarly its also nice for cheesy things like nachos, or twice baked potatoes with grated cheese on top, those burned on little bits of cheese are so annoying to scrape off a baking sheet. They are annoying to clean, but ill take rinsing and wiping a silicon mat over scraping burnt bits off a pan any day.
you can fold the edges of two pieces of foil together so that nothing leaks between them, it takes a little bit of dexterity and knowledge, but it's the same way they seal tin cans so it really can be water tight.
silpats are good for bakers who have issues with things burning on the bottom (or for making baked goods that shouldn't brown too much), and for people who dabble in candy making, since they can handle a LOT more heat than parchment paper, and won't require you to have a second baking sheet lying on a rack just to avoid warping your countertop, just a silpat on a regular sheet works well enough for me at least
Helen, I couldn't help it but you remind me of Julia Ormond from Sabrina. You are beautiful and your demeanor is absolutely charming! I also love how detailed and scientific your recipes are. I'm trying your earl grey chiffon cake this weekend!
I'm definitely a fan of not using anything. That said, usually I don't oven roast veggies. I do use foil on my non-stick pans that have the coating peeling off. I can't bring myself to throw them away
When I use foil on a large baking sheet, it get a non-stick foil like Reynolds’s release (read the box to know the non-stick side) and a make a seam with a multi-rolled fold the long way (longitudinally) between two pieces of foil. This combined sheet is plenty large to go up the sides and crimp around the edge. If you’re careful, it’s a handy way to oven-crisp a pound of bacon all at once, and never wash the pan, no leaks. Just carefully remove the bacon to drain, and let the fat set in the foil. Then carefully loosen the sides and put away your clean pan (or let the dishwasher do an easy clean of anything that remains of a haze of bacon fog it baked in, you do you. For me, it all depends on how my ocd is running that day). But being careful with the foil is the key; there are multiple places where haste can puncture your foil.
Well, I feel better. I've had a silicone matt for years and have never used it. One of my main uses of parchment paper is in making pizza. I don't have a peal so I make my pizza on parchment paper and slide if off into the oven and it's especially helpful in getting it OUT onto my cutting board. Problem solved.
Thank you, Helen, for this great tutorial! What about the "non-stick" baking sheets, that are dark in color, but seem to have some form of teflon-like coating? To line or not to line? (P.S. Are they safe to use?)
The foil I use that covers the edges of my quarter sheet pans is Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil for The Grill. It has a non-stick coating and is very heavy-duty. Available on Amazon, I always find myself saying “Thank you Mr. Reynolds” when I lift off an impossibly greasy mess and drop it in the trash ;-)
Q: Can you use aluminum foil to cover your dark baking sheet to imitate a shiny baking sheet effect for baking?
A: It's not just the shininess of the surface the food touches, but the shininess of the baking sheet itself that results in a different rate of energy transfer. Some of my baking sheets are black underneath, but relatively light on top and they still brown extremely fast. Since the heat element is on the bottom of the oven, I am guessing that it might make a bigger difference to put the foil under the baking sheet to reflect the heat instead of putting it inside the baking sheet. But I haven't tested that. Also keep in mind that using foil when a baking recipe calls for parchment will make a difference in how some recipes perform.
Q: Why can't you just buy a black baking sheet?
A: You can! I haven't tried them for 2 reasons. The ones that are black because of a non-stick coating are flimsy, they warp, and the coating wears off. The ones that are black because they are made of blue steel (they are similar to cast iron) are heavy, expensive, and a pain to take care of (they need immediate drying so that they don't rust). If you have some black baking sheets that you love, let me know. I hear that in Europe, many ovens come with enamel coated black baking sheets. I haven't seen that in the US.
Some of you commented that in Europe baking sheets are typically black and they are used for everything including baked goods. I am not saying that any black baking sheet is bad for baked goods. It's a combination of many factors -- the material of the baking sheet, how your oven works (in Europe there is usually a heating element on top and bottom and in the US only on the bottom), whether the convection fan is used, etc. But if you compare apples to apples (two identical baking sheets where the only difference is the color), the darker baking sheet will brown faster.
I am from europe and my baking sheet is black and very light but not non stick coated it maight be enamel. But ever since I've seen you baking sheet video I'm glad they are black. I always used to want the shiny ones cause they look pretty.
I'm in the UK and my black baking sheets are vitreous enamel (similar to what's used on enameled cast iron, I think?) and it works great, I don't bake often but I might invest in a plain shiny sheet for the odd occasion where I do!
My new oven came with a black baking sheet and this video has answered my question as to why I burn everything in there all of a sudden lol
My oven came with a black sheet too (Netherlands) but it was just black paint of low quality that got destroyed after a single wash in the dishwasher.
Most ovens here (except tiny toaster ovens) seem to have both convection and heat elements on top and bottom (individually controlled), unless you're using a gas model, which doesn't seem to be the norm (and they're usually much more expensive).
I tend to gravitate towards non sticky pans, even if I am lining them, or glass (since it can be also used in the microwave or if I want to use microwave + heat). I also have a couple of cheap IKEA frying pans (non sticky, of course) that I use in the oven (I didn't install the handle intentionally) and they seem to have better quality than any baking pan, since they're much thicker at the bottom. Can't use that for large preparations, obviously, but very handy for a single person or a side dish. I also love to use the rice cooker bowl to bake cakes (non sticky).
Don't get me wrong here -- I love and appreciate your cooking knowledge, but the thing that keeps me coming back is the reasonable approach: you give the facts as you know them and you allow others the room to hold differing opinions. It is a treat to hear someone talk on any topic with such reasonableness and respect! Bravo!
Amen!
8:14 "You are all grown up people. You can make your own decisions" Words that need to be heard a lot more in the internet! 👍👍👍
My mind is blown! Came to the internet for poached eggs ideas, and found a channel with an encyclopedia of cooking tips, presented thoroughly, with humility, with knowledge and with flair!
Who even knew I had to much more to learn about baking sheet liners...but I did.
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
‘You are all grown ups and can make your own decisions’ Never were truer words spoken 😎
Ha, this is no doubt the best lesson on basic cooking I have ever had. My wife kept saying, clean that pan sheet pan, scour it. And, now I learn that all the browning was good?
Thank you, Helen, for your great instructions.
always pulling up with the knowledge that we never knew we needed tysm
Greetings: in thanksgiving: Master Chef 👩🍳 Helen Rennie, thank you; again, Master Chef 👩🍳 Helen Rennie, thank you; Enormous Hug 🤗
Greetings: amen 🙏 alleluia: ( fwiw ) this video presentation is outstanding: wonderful: again, this video presentation is outstanding; plan to put these amazing 😉 culinary preparation ideas 💡 into effect very, very, very soon
Greetings: amen 🙏 alleluia: special intention: ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Love, be very, very, very safe and , in thanksgiving, wishing you a happy 😃 blessed glorious day
finally someone who talks about how annoying things are to clean thank you helen so much
You're so awesome! I was a chef for years and I'm glad to learn new things with you
20 years ago i thought my mum got crazy when she told me that in her new shiny stainless steel dutch oven she doesn't get the browning she wants. After getting a dark one (enamel coated) she was happy again. Today i understand what it was about - thank you!
In germany we usually don't have the aluminum sheet-trays, but big (size of the whole oven) enamel coated trays (dark). They can do anything - an can stay in the oven during pyrolyse - together with my baking-stone for bread (the 750f+ cleaning cycle). Both (dutch oven and tray) are as good as non-stick (but shouldn't go into the dishwasher).
I only use the (small) aluminium trays with a fitting wire-rack in it if i'm going to make a mess (e.g. broiling a small amount of chicken) as the small ones fit into my dishwasher (yes, i'm very lazy in regards to cleaning things by hand :D )
For baking i'm curious because it seems bread + breadrolls brown much slower when i use a paper on my stone. I''d assume that that small piece of paper can't potentially hold much heat back - and especially transferring rolls is much more convinient with paper - but i'll test that in a few hours when my dough is proofed.
I feel the same way about silicone sheets. I love them for the few uses they are great for, and find them useless otherwise. Here's how I figured out a great way to dry them. Drape a kitchen towel over the handle of your oven or stove if it's the kind that goes all the way across. Many people alrready do this just because it's a good place to keep a kitchen towel. Now drape the silicone sheet over that. Most can dry in the air and the bit that touches the towel has the towel wick the moisture awy, and isn't enough to do more than barely dampen the towel, so no water spots on the handle. Works extremely well.
I dry my silicone mats by wiping them with a dry dish towel, then hanging them to air dry from my cooktop's metal vent hood with a small strong magnet. I obviously do this when I'm not planning to cook for a few hours.
5 Stars as usual, you cover all the things I never really thought about regarding cooking, but are so relevant when you highlight them….😍😍
Hi Helen, Love your channel. I have a sheet pan that is perfectly seasoned, why? because I always bake my bacon on it. That is a great way to get a dark well- seasoned pan in a relatively short amount of time.
I thought I was the only one who hadn't figured out how to easily clean and dry my Silpat. So many other people swear by them, but I've run into the same issues as you Helen
As usual, a thoughtful video presented clearly. Thank you for the insights!
Today I’m making sourdough pretzels for the first time in a few years and I thought I would post that they are a great use for silpats. When you wash your pretzels in lye (or even in baked baking soda as some people do), they will stick to parchment once baked to the point where it’s impossible to peel it off completely. They will also discolor your sheet trays. Silicone mats are perfect for them.
Hi Helen! I know you posted a different video specifically about seasoning aluminum baking sheets, but I wanted to let you in on a little trick I use for that. For the baking sheets that I want to use for roasting/browning, I throw the new shiny silver sheet through the dishwasher once or twice when I need to do a load. This accomplishes 2 things: (1) it helps to give the sheet a much darker color that is more of a light bronze instead of silver. (2) it chemically alters the shiny surface to make it much rougher, and that allows the "seasoning" to grab onto it a lot more easily. I hope this helps! Try it sometime when you get a new sheet!
**EDIT**
I finished your video now, and I do want to stick up a little bit for the silicone mats! :) Yes, everything you have said about them is true; they aren't as good for getting crispy edges on cookies, they can be a bit awkward to clean, and they also can absorb odors, but there are times silicone is so useful! For example, when you were telling us about how you were having trouble with baked goods burning on the bottoms, silicone is absolutely wonderful for this, because of its low thermal conductivity and capacity. For example, how many of those RUclips videos of homemade sourdough with cast iron HIDE the bottom of the loaf? Sometimes if you're paying attention, you can see that their bottoms are charred, which means the ENTIRE loaf will carry a slight acrid odor. But the problem is that you need ripping hot cast iron in order to get that heat for a good rise/ear. So what I have learned to do is to slide a silicone mat underneath my bread after the rise is done, so I can let the top and sides brown nicely without having to worry about the bottom crust burning. I works amazingly well!
Some other great uses for silicone mats are for freezing items. When I want to "IQF" something like homemade gnocchi, cookies, pasta, meatballs, stuffed brie, etc, or also if I just want to firm something up in the freezer before working with it, silicone works so well because of its non-stick properties. Sometimes things get a teensy bit clingy to the mat, but nowhere near as much as they do on a bare sheet. Sure, I could use parchment paper for this, but it feels so wasteful and uneconomical when I am trying to save money by doing things in bulk and freezing. Plus sometimes the paper can rip when something sticks to it, whereas with silicone I can just flip it over and peel it off.
As for cleaning them, I have found that the best way to make them NOT be a PITA is to do the following: In a clean sink, I press it flat in the bottom of the sink and just gently scrub with the soft side of the sponge and dish soap. Flip and repeat. THIS IS THE IMPORTANT STEP. You have to rinse it properly, or it still has that sort of "greasy" feel to it. Silicone tools in general really need this step. Once you have rinsed all the suds off, keep the warm water running with the mat still in the bottom of the sink (it's ok if it plugs the drain a little) and rub the clean water all over the surface of the mat. Flip and repeat. Now the mat should feel much more "tacky," and then you can dry.
I personally got rid of my drying rack in my kitchen years ago, but even if I had one, I would probably not dry the mat in there anyway. I would just lay a clean towel on the counter and place the mat flat on top of it. Then I press my hands down on the mat and slide them around while pushing the mat into the towel. Flip and repeat. Boom, done! I have a war on drying racks. Maybe I'll do a video on it one day if/when I start my own channel. They take up SO much space and they are hideous. You either have a giant pile of water-spotted dishes on your counter, or you have this big, ugly empty rack on the counter. And if you store it away, it takes up so much cabinet space! And then they get all grimy and gross over time if you don't clean them. Now, I just keep 2 towels on hangers in my kitchen that are my "drying rack." When it's time to do the dishes, I just lay them side-by-side on the clean counter and put all of my wet dishes on them while cleaning, stacking/angling them so they still can get air underneath. When I'm done cleaning, I can just dry them and put them and the towels away, and have a very clean look to the counter. Or if you really want, you could, just let them air dry and hang the towels when you're done. But either way, you don't need a bulky rack with dangerously teetering dishes. When I figured that out, I was so happy to get rid of that awful drying rack and reclaim my precious kitchen space.
I have a "dimpled jelly roll pan" (seasoned) I use for roasting root vegetables and it works very well... the raised dimples create less surface area for the food to stick to.... also, .... Jelly roll pans are a bit less prone to warping as the dimples help strengthen the pan.
Cheers from Canada! 🇨🇦😃😃
Always informative, backed up by experience and relevant experiments.
Your honesty, candour and humour are compelling, and I always learn so much from you.
The “try it and see” methodology is essential to improving any skill based effort.
Thank you!
I have a lot of uses for my silicon mats. They were my Mothers before, they were mine. When I toast squash seeds they are the best option. The seeds don't stick so I can easily stir them as they dry and then toast up. I also very much like them for egg-based things meringue, and such. They work well for keeping french toast warm, well there are many uses for them.
I absolutely love your no nonsense approach :)
I switched from foil to the silicone sheets to cut down on costs and where I am the foil cannot be recycled. I also don't have to worry about foil being out of stock. I have found that the silicone provides better crisping on a number of items so I am glad I made the switch for that reason also. I totally agree with the washing and drying issues.
Do you use the ones like Silpat brand with the fiberglass grid in them or just silicon sheets?
@@NoZenith The ones I bought have the grid but are not the Silpat brand. They were priced for real people.
@@Dezhavu13 I got a giant one that covers the entire bottom of my oven at Aldi 😁. My oven doesn't have the self-cleaning function so it maxes out at 500°F and this keeps stuff from cooking on and it's way easier to clean so I get you. I got 2 1/4 sheet silpats on clearance when they were remodeling my local supermarket. I'd been looking for something half sheet or full sheet sized but wasn't sure if I should go with or without the fiberglass.
What a fine explanation on when to use lining. The good ting is that you explain the WHY making the knowledge stick, just like another of my favorite WebChefs Chef Jean-Pierre 🙂
I love the part with aluminium and sugar
I thought the idea of foil being dangerous was so thoroughly debunked, that I assumed that the negatives she was about to mention had more to do with adding more aluminum foil to landfills.
@@fordhouse8b I also think aluminum foil is not harmful. Ok, so I should just go with the sugar
The video I needed and of course it's from Helen. Thank you!
You're like a one-woman America's Test Kitchen, and I'm here for it!
Have you heard of parchment paper roll? You can cut the paper bigger than the baking sheet and prevent leakage under the paper. You can also mix your veggies with oil and seasoning on it no problem.
Finally, the question I've been asking ever since I saw a cooking video with no lining!
Edit: I learned so much! Thank you!!!!
this is so interesting and informative, thank you
thank you for another great video! silicone pad was my absolute saving grace when I was making medovik--those thin layers of sticky dough baked beautifully on it in the oven; but I agree that this is a very niche product for very particular purposes. re: sticking potatoes, I found that using a ceramic dish solves that issue--just drizzle some sunflower seed oil on it, and the baked spears will come right off without sticking.
Wow. I did not realize how important the color of a baking sheet could be. I am going to roast some broccoli and cauliflower on a DARK, UNLINED sheet. I will probably be thanking you when they come out wonderfully roasted. I often struggle to get good browning when roasting. Now I may know why... lol
So much yes in this video.
I've always wondered this. Every single time.
I really enjoy my silicone mat for making candied nuts, citrus and the like. Way less sticky and easier to get up off of the mat. They're not for everything,, but I like mine. Love your videos as always. Thanks for all the hard work 🖤
I have a pair of aluminum quarter-sheets that I use with silicon mats all the time. I wash both by hand (maybe the only thing I wash by hand), and dry the silicon mat by laying it on half the dish towel, then folding the other half over it. Works fine, they're not sticky afterward, and I launder the dish towel weekly. I don't deep-fry anything, and I use the sheet/mat combination for frozen french fries for my grandchildren and other frozen things that I don't want to stick to the pan. Thanks for the explanation of browning, though. I don't often bake cookies, but the next time I do, I won't use the silicon and will instead use my "regular" nonstck cookie sheet.
Helen, you’re a gem! Clear instructions, delivered in melodious voice and with a beautiful face.
One question: I have some heavy, non-stick baking sheets which are dark grey in colour. They seem to bake everything without need for much cleaning, beyond sponge and hot soapy water.
Sound like a solution?
Enjoying your RUclips tutorials.
Phil
If it works, it works :) how long have you had your baking sheets? how is the coating holding up? Can you send me a link to your baking sheets? e-mail is best since I might not see the follow up comment. helenrennie@gmail.com
Thanks Helen. Good information. I like the silicon or woven copper sheets on the grill, though. Of course if I ever go back to charcoal Im not sure that I will.
How serendipitous! Im looking to get new sheet pans and this video is jam packed with useful info about sheet pans! Thanx
I also hate washing extra bowls--so I am 100% in agreement that skipping the parchment paper and tossing veggies with oil and salt on the sheet is the way to go. And I also own but hate to use my silpat because as you said, it really is a pain to clean. I do wash my cookie sheets in the dishwasher though, and have not had issues with sticking (except potatoes) or browning (maybe I use more fat than you?) but I will perform the wonderbread test. Love your sensible approach to cooking and no doubt life! You are a wonderful educator. Thank you.
thanks again Chef
Great overview, Helen. I have been able to resist buying a silicon mat and have a hard time finding quarter sheet parchment sheets that actually fit (for the two of us, and the sizes of our ovens, a quarter sheet pan is the perfect size). And I don't mind doing the washing up as the sheet pans clean up quite easily as long as you don't overcook in them.
Thank you so much sharing your knowledge. I always thought I was a poor cook having browned baking sheets.
All baking sheets in Finland are black and we use them for everything. They come like that and I've never seen a baking sheet like the ones you have in this video. We always use a parchment paper with everything. I bake a lot and I've never had a problem with stuff burning on the bottom
Do they have a Teflon coating on them something else? The pants in this video are just made out of a heavy change aluminum. Pans like this are quite common in commercial kitchens just bigger than the ones in this video.
They're not teflon. Some kind of hard shiny black metal coating.
I absolutely love your videos!
Did not know that about the silicone baking sheets! This was very educational, thank you!
Aluminum foil definitely comes in wide rolls that are readily available in every grocery store, but usually is the heavy duty variety.
SO helpful! Thank you Helen. I love your videos.
Greetings: in thanksgiving: again , wishing you a blessed happy 😃 glorious day
Foil comes on a wide roll that fits a half sheet just fine. I use it all the time for cooking bacon in the oven. I can cook a full pound on a haf sheet. Clean up is super easy too. I drain the bacon on paper towels the lay the towels in the sheet pan to soak up most of the grease. Then just lift the foil out, fold it up and toss in the trash.
so useful thanks Helen!
I use my silicone mats more for candy uses than baking. They're useful for the odd baking task, and I sometimes bake delicate items on them, but they're excellent for preventing melted sugar and chocolate from sticking. I've never found them hard to clean, though, and clean them by hand according to Silpat's recommendations. They are a pain to dry, though, because they're always touching something!
I have a few Silpat liners that were gifted to me several years ago and I never use the things-they really are a huge pain in the ass and I have yet to find a cooking application where they’re worth the trouble… Thank you for the validation!😂
I did get some use out of them when my kids were little during their Play-Doh (and later Sculpey) phase. The mats were really good work surfaces for that; non-stick and portable.
ETA: I just remembered, we did use them one year when we got especially ambitious with making gingerbread houses; they worked well for melting hard candies when we made “glass” windows!
They are good for candy like brittle, tuiles (though I actually like the texture better on foil, but the silpat is easier), frico, and perforated ones work nicely for baking things like tarts (made in rings which have no bottom). I mostly use them when rolling out doughs (bread, pasta, empanadas, cookies, etc) because they keep the mess off your counter.
ATK made a video about best baking sheets and color does matter. Love your videos. Happy New Year!
I totally agree with the comparison of using aluminium with using sugar. good one.
Costco foil is thick, wide and probably mitigates nay of your concerns about foil!
Oh no, Helen. You don't get to wiggle out of that one with a landmine at the end of your vid. Now you absolutely have to talk about the way the silicone sheets affect various kinds of sweet and savory baking and roasting and other things that you use those for. Looking forward to it. Happy New Year.
I've been trying to find a video on this! It has been hard to find good information, so thank you.
Father in law moved in with us last year. Recently I found him scrubbing my finally after 2 years well seasoned half baking sheet. He said "sorry but, I don't think I can get this all off. I have been trying for a half hour". I said thank you and cried in my bedroom.
Great cooking teacher but sooo charming as well
I've never thought to use parchment with potatoes but I might try that because I like a thin sliced roasted potato.
Very informative and can be a real money saver. Still trying to decide between Nordicware and Vollrath 1/2 sheets.
Nordicware because those Vollrath sheet trays are highway robbery. Sheet trays are a cheap piece of kitchen equipment. Frankly those Nordicware ones are overpriced, too.
@@annchovy6 Thanks for feedback. Seems nothing is inexpensive anymore unless you want to keep replacing it.
@@joepalmer75 Sheet pans and nonstick pans kind of fall into the realm of things that get replaced after a while if you use them heavily. It’s why spending a lot of money on them isn’t necessary. Though truthfully I’ve had the same sheet trays for many years and they get a lot of use. Since I have a fair amount none of them looks all that worn out.
@@annchovy6 I've thrown out all "non-stick" pans and have gone to cast iron though I have kept and cherish some SS pots and oversize skillet I bought in Austria about 30 years ago. Agree on sheet pans.
Honestly I think the best ones I have come from a restaurant supply store.
Thank you so much for this video. You answered questions I had concerning silicone baking sheets. By-the-way, I enjoy your channel very much and always learn something.
Your voice sounds amazing in this video, did you get a new mic?
Thanks so much for this video, I am going to season my scrubbed baking sheets right now!
I got non stick reusable woven sheets that are parchment like in quality, I recommend them for those concerned about reuse
Huge thanks for all the work you do on your channel! It's extremely helpful.
Спасибо!
If it’s all about the color and heat absorbtion why cant you just use dark colored tray for browning, and light tray for baking?
That's exactly what I do. It's in my baking sheet video that I reference in this one.
Baking for decades...I always line mine...usually with parchment
Target sells some nice WIDE rolls of aluminum foils that fit even pretty big pans pretty well. I just spray it with some oil to keep things from sticking and easy to clean.
Wow. Thanks! I always chucked my broccoli getting mushy bc of temperature
Learned so much here! Thanks, Helen! And I agree regarding a Sil Pat. Yuck.
Thank you for the video ❤😊
Your haircut is adorable !
Phenomenal points!
The discussion of silicone mats was especially helpful for me: I've been thinking about buying one and now I won't. That $30 buys a lot of parchment paper, and I'll get better performance.
Wow, great information!!! I love your channel so much...thank you Helen 😊 ❤❤❤
Awesome video! Maybe sometime in the future you get curious about trying other materials like non stick pans and glass (with and without lining) to see how they compare? Also, some ovens allow us to combine microwave, heat and even have convection fans (I never see you actively using convection in your recipes, would it help with some issues faced when baking or roasting?). I also wonder if combining microwave and regular heat would be helpful when we want to roast a large piece of meat, for example, so it cooks more evenly. There's an entire universe of new tech available for us to buy (which many of us own) but there's very few, if any, with your level of expertise that experiments with those devices and extract benefits from them we could also be using if we had enough knowledge about.
It's also really refreshing to see how precise your instructions and measurements are (metric system is awesome!), that's really helpful! Thanks again for everything, I wish you a lovely weekend!
Thanks so much for the great content!
Thanks for this.
I put my silicon liners in the dishwasher but not the way you showed in the video. I have found if I bend them in half (like an upside down U) that they will "stand" between the prongs on the rack. I don't have issues with them falling onto anything else and they are dry at the end of the cycle. They still have that somewhat tacky feel but I am sure they are clean.
We reuse the parchment paper when baking. Had a problem with first batch (cookies) burning on the bottom. Last cookies the baking sheet was preheated and no burning.
such a underated video! I'm wondering: what about racks?
I find that my potatoes stick a lot less if I preheat a lightly-oiled pan along with the oven. That still leaves me a bowl to wash, but since I've usually cut up the potatoes earlier in the day for other reasons, I was going to have to wash that bowl anyway.
Great video! It seems a bit silly for anyone to worry about the potential negative health effects of lining (or not lining) an aluminum pan with aluminum foil. I mean, if you don’t line it, the food is still cooked on top of aluminum. As for foil not being big enough for a half sheet pan, just go online and buy 18 inch wide foil. 12 inch foil sucks.
I love your videos!
I use parchment paper when I make pizza. But it's mostly because It makes it easier to put the soft pizza in the oven and it's really easy to take out. And I don't have to clean my home-made pizza steel.
I'm laughing because I've been scrubbing the stuff off all these years thinking it was "dirty" and I don't want to cook with dirty dishes. Oops!!!! Now I know, TY!!
I love using baking sheets with fish
I use silicon mats for things I am cooking in the oven that have a chance to drip and burn, stuff like barbeque style oven ribs or chicken with a sweet marinade can drip and burn onto a baking sheet very easily, but a silicon mat is very easy to clean those burnt on bits off from compared to a baking sheet. Similarly its also nice for cheesy things like nachos, or twice baked potatoes with grated cheese on top, those burned on little bits of cheese are so annoying to scrape off a baking sheet. They are annoying to clean, but ill take rinsing and wiping a silicon mat over scraping burnt bits off a pan any day.
you can fold the edges of two pieces of foil together so that nothing leaks between them, it takes a little bit of dexterity and knowledge, but it's the same way they seal tin cans so it really can be water tight.
silpats are good for bakers who have issues with things burning on the bottom (or for making baked goods that shouldn't brown too much), and for people who dabble in candy making, since they can handle a LOT more heat than parchment paper, and won't require you to have a second baking sheet lying on a rack just to avoid warping your countertop, just a silpat on a regular sheet works well enough for me at least
Helen, I couldn't help it but you remind me of Julia Ormond from Sabrina. You are beautiful and your demeanor is absolutely charming! I also love how detailed and scientific your recipes are. I'm trying your earl grey chiffon cake this weekend!
That's it!! You are absolutely right! I thought she reminded me of someone but had no clue who it was.
I'm definitely a fan of not using anything. That said, usually I don't oven roast veggies. I do use foil on my non-stick pans that have the coating peeling off. I can't bring myself to throw them away
When I use foil on a large baking sheet, it get a non-stick foil like Reynolds’s release (read the box to know the non-stick side) and a make a seam with a multi-rolled fold the long way (longitudinally) between two pieces of foil. This combined sheet is plenty large to go up the sides and crimp around the edge.
If you’re careful, it’s a handy way to oven-crisp a pound of bacon all at once, and never wash the pan, no leaks. Just carefully remove the bacon to drain, and let the fat set in the foil. Then carefully loosen the sides and put away your clean pan (or let the dishwasher do an easy clean of anything that remains of a haze of bacon fog it baked in, you do you. For me, it all depends on how my ocd is running that day).
But being careful with the foil is the key; there are multiple places where haste can puncture your foil.
👍 Danke fürs Hochladen!
👍 Thanks for uploading!
👍 Very good and beautiful, thank you!
👍 Sehr gut und schön, danke!
This is why in a professional kitchen the sheet pans are for the bakery and the slightly deeper roasting pans are for the cooks.
Well, I feel better. I've had a silicone matt for years and have never used it. One of my main uses of parchment paper is in making pizza. I don't have a peal so I make my pizza on parchment paper and slide if off into the oven and it's especially helpful in getting it OUT onto my cutting board. Problem solved.
Thank you, Helen, for this great tutorial! What about the "non-stick" baking sheets, that are dark in color, but seem to have some form of teflon-like coating? To line or not to line? (P.S. Are they safe to use?)
Rolls of foil made for commercial kitchens are big enough to cover a half sheet pan. So that could be an option.
The foil I use that covers the edges of my quarter sheet pans is Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil for The Grill.
It has a non-stick coating and is very heavy-duty. Available on Amazon, I always find myself saying “Thank you Mr. Reynolds” when I lift off an impossibly greasy mess and drop it in the trash ;-)
Thanks! Now I can stop worrying about the appearance of my baking sheets and appreciate them instead.
Reynolds non-stick aluminum foil is a wonder. It really is non-stick.