A cooling rack is not a glamorous thing, by any means. But I’ve had reason to thank my lucky stars for these grid-patterned wire cooling racks again and again. They’re worth their weight in gold.
I used the same two thrift-store wire cooling racks for years. These were the kind with rows of evenly-spaced parallel wires, and I was constantly frustrated with them. Delicate cakes would sag between the rows. Fresh-baked breads would end up with creases in the bottom. Cookies being shuffled from baking sheet to cooling rack would slip through the spaces and break.
Enter the grid-patterned baking sheet. The wires are woven together fairly tightly, allowing air to flow through but also supporting delicate baked goods. Breads are crease-free. Cookies don’t slip through. They’re just awesome. The first time I used them, I think I heard angels singing.
Many companies make a similar style of baking rack. Mine are basic chrome-plated racks that I picked up at a restaurant supply store. I’ve also seen ones with non-stick coating and am thinking of picking one up for this year’s holiday baking-a-thon:
• Chrome Plate Steel Wire Cooling Rack, $13 from Amazon
• Goldtouch Nonstick Cooling Rack, $13 from Williams-Sonoma
• Nonstick Cooling Racks, $5 - $13 from Sur la Table
Do you like these cooling racks, too? Or do you have another style you prefer?
Related: Five Essential Baking Tools: Pans
(Image: Emma Christensen)
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Emma, how right you are. I bought the SLT version and it is great. Super sturdy and low to counter. It's so true, they are the best "supporting player" in the kitchen and get no glory. I'm getting a set of round ones next!
I have the SLT (Sur La Table, right?) ones too and I just love them. Good for cookies, bread, everything. Before that I was using one of the racks of my oven! Such a simple thing but it makes a huge difference!
I'd love to have grid racks, but in my ridiculously tiny kitchen, I have to use stacking racks (like these) in order to get any quantity baking done.
We use the stacking racks when we do Cookie Weekend at my mom's house (a dozen or more kinds of fancy Christmas cookies all baked over 2 days. Glorious madness) and they're really nice space savers.
I have the William Sonoma version and I love them. So much better than my old racks!
I have three of the parallel kind that stack on top of each other and I use them all the time. But for delicate stuff, and for doing cookie decorations or deep frying, stuff like that, I use my Wms-Sonoma goldtouch ones. They are awesome! Also I love how they fit right into my sheet pans.
They're also perfect for chopping hard-boiled eggs. You place the rack over a bowl, put the egg on top and push it sharply through with your hand. Fast way to dice them and the rack cleans off with a quick spray. I also use it as a roasting rack and at work they put bacon on racks before baking to keep the meat from boiling in fat.
I have both stackable and gridded racks. I wish I had stackable gridded racks!
I have a huge gridded rack that just barely fits in my kitchen cupboard! So worth it.
Not only are they great for baked goods, they are handy when you want to cook bacon in the oven (for parties or for keeping your house from smelling like bacon for a week)... just place the bacon on the rack, put it on an aluminum lined jelly roll pan (for easy clean up) and bake. I also bake cut up chicken on handy these racks (when I need chicken for salad) same prep as bacon.
ah, more neat things to own in the kitchen. *sigh* (we're packing up for a move...) do not need more "stuff" ! But those would be so nice!
I have one of these because it was in the only (and cheap!) option in my local grocery store's scant baking section. I use it for everything!
I received the Pampered Chef version with the fold down legs for Christmas a couple of years ago and use it all the time. It's great a trivet for large Pyrex dishes and we love it for cooling cookies, cakes, etc. It's not made to go in the oven, unfortunately. If it were I'd use it like Zora mentioned (and how Granny's been doing it for 50 years) for bacon.