If you don't have parchment paper at home (and I'm guessing many of you don't), you've likely seen it lining the trays at your favorite bakery. Moisture-resistant and grease-resistant, it really shouldn't be relegated to professional kitchens any longer. Home cooks and bakers need the stuff, too, for many reasons. Let's discuss why, shall we?
Joy the Baker just wrote about parchment paper and why to use it on her blog last week, and it got me thinking about all of the reasons I use it to bake with — at home and for my larger-scale granola business Marge.
1. Clean-up is a breeze: You can cut your parchment to fit your baking sheet or buy pre-cut and pre-sized pieces to make life a breeze. Because grease won't penetrate onto your pan, you simply remove the parchment after you're finished baking and pan's clean!
2. Baked goods won't stick: This is really the main reason I use parchment in the kitchen. I don't have to fuss with cooking sprays or use additional butter or oil. Cookies, bars, and scones slide off the tray without any hassle.
3. It preserve the life of your baking sheets: No burned bits on those trays means your nice baking sheets are going to last longer and longer.
4. Transporting baked goods is a cinch: This is another main reason I use parchment paper, too. You can literally lift the entire sheet of parchment, holding it taut, and transport baked goods to counters or platters. Brownies
are lifted out of their pan with ease as are pizzas.
5. Baking and beyond: Once you start using parchment in the kitchen to bake with, you'll discover seemingly endless ues for it. Making butter rolls? Check. Making decorating cones for cakes? Check. Snack server? Sure thing.
Joy the Baker warned that parchment shouldn't come near a broiler as it's not meant for super high temperatures. I'd add that it's also not interchangeable with wax paper in recipes. Keep them seperate and you're good to go.
Related: Quick Tip: Use Parchment Paper as Muffin Cup Liners
(Image: Faith Durand)
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(and I'm guessing many of you don't)
Is that really a legitimate guess? Is it so uncommon for home bakers to have parchment paper around? Is that why they sell it in convenient sheet pan sized rolls in my grocery store (presumably) for use by the home baker?
Or am I the only one here that keeps a roll on hand at all times? Just a bit baffled by the tone of this post.
Honestly, I was just standing in the store yesterday debating whether I should buy a roll of it--which I never have before. And still haven't. I finally decided against it, as I don't do that much baking. But the reasons above are pretty convincing!
"Because grease won't penetrate onto your pan, you simply remove the parchment after you're finished baking and pan's clean!"
Maybe I'm using the wrong parchment, but grease does soak into the parchment and while you won't get baked on crusty stuff sticking to the pan, you STILL have to wash your baking pan to remove grease smudges. But washing is a breeze and you almost never have to scrub! But I wouldn't say that you won't have to clean it.
I'm never without parchment paper, love it!
Don't buy rolls -- get the pre-cut sheets, they're way easy to use. They won't curl up on you at all. The ones I have fit my half-sheet pans perfectly and are a great size to use for things like what's shown in the photo. I buy a few packs at a time so I'm never without, but the last time I bought some in 2010, they were $4.39/100 sheets from a restaurant supply store online. I find uses for the stuff all over the place, it's magic!
I totally sound like an ad!
And DON'T buy the Reynolds pan-lining wrap because it's AWFUL. Don't even buy it if your grocery store is all, you don't need parchment spend extra money on this, because it curls up and is terrible. Makes baked goods soggy, too.
Here's a question I've had since moving to Seattle, where we compost and recycle everything: what do I do with used parchment paper? I can't recycle it, but can I compost it? What is in it? Should it be trash (i.e. in a landfill) rather than compost? Help me, Kitchn!
@Barlowgirl: Apparently, you can compost unwaxed parchment paper, although it's best to cut it up or shred it.
Since parchment rolls are the easiest for me to find locally, and many of the boxes contain coupons for more. I usually cut up a couple boxes of parchment at a time into sheet pan sized sheets, store them in between 2 sheet pans, and voila, flat parchment sheets whenever you need them.
I could never get pizza dough to come cleanly off of my pizza peel and onto my preheated pizza stone. Now I place a piece of parchment on top of the peel before I shape my pizza and it slides onto the stone easy as can be. Note that I cook my pizzas on very high heat (550) so I pull the parchment paper out from under the pizza after about 3-4 minutes of cooking.
Also, sift your dry ingredients onto a piece of parchment. Fold, gather the end (folding it over once works for me) and you can slowly shake the flour and other ingredients into the mixer while it is on instead of trying to get the dries out of a bowl. Then, you can use it to line a cake pan or sheet pan, so double-duty!
Roll ice-box cookies in parchment, write the name of the cookie and the date on the paper. Wrap in plastic and store in the freezer. Helps keep freezer burn out. You can also roll soft dough between two sheets (adding flour can dry out the dough, and make it tough), chill until the dough is firm, remove the top sheet, cut cookies, and you're golden. Also, if for some reason they get soft before you finish cutting them, they're easier to put back into the fridge.
And if you want to get the most out of it, re-use it for several sheets of cookies. That way you won't feel guilty for tossing it after baking on it once.
@Moshene, that sifting trick is genius! thanks!
How about Silpats? Just as effective in a lot of ways plus it's reusable!
Note: Parchment paper works better for me on cookies and other specific baked goods -- not 100% sure why but they puff up a lot nicer and bake more evenly.
I make parchment packets when I cook fish. Now they make little parchment bags for things like looking fish or chicken. All mess is gone and smell ( fish) after cooking and I've a clean pan. But I do keep a roll of parchment paper on the rare occasions of baking
i learned the hard way about wax paper!
Hmm, I'm going to have to try that idea about cutting it up ahead of time and flattening it. It's so ingeious that I wonder why it never occurred to me.
Buying parchment paper by the case from Webstaurantstore.com is super cheap. I know people who went in on buying a case that way and divided it up.