Doesn't this look like lab equipment from 8th grade chemistry class? It's really a tubular dish made by Pyrex back in the 70's for baking round loaves of bread at home. Have any of you ever seen - or baked in - something like this?
According to the Etsy seller's description, you grease the inside of the tube and then let the dough rise inside until it entirely fills the tube. The bread is baked right in the tube, so you end up with a perfectly round loaf of bread.
The method for getting the dough into the tube sounds like a magic trick:
Take a 20 in. length of wax paper and fold it in thirds lengthwise. Place the roll of dough on the wax paper (toward one end) and then pull the other end of the paper through the tube. When the roll of dough is where you want it (filling the middle of the tube) roll the tube over so the dough is on the bottom and the wax paper on top; this releases the waxed paper and you can pull it out.
We're tempted to pick one of these up just for the novelty of it!
Check It Out! Pyrex Bake A Round Bread Tube from Pegalee, $15 on Etsy
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(Image: Pegalee)
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Comments (21)
My mom had one of those. The bread had a great crust all around, but it was difficult to keep on the cutting board.
My mom had one too, and I think she still uses it occasionally. I don't remember how she got it into the tube, but I don't think there was any magic to it. I do remember that the loaf usually had some cornmeal on it (like pizza crusts), so perhaps that was part of her method. The loaves do have a great crust!
My mother-in-law gave me hers a few years ago. I have never used it. My mom also had one when we were growing up and it was always fun to watch the bread rise and then bake. I don't think getting it in the tube is that difficult. I think this was a late 70's early 80's must have!
Hmm, I see these things all the time thrifting. I've never used one or had bread baked from one but now I might want to pick one up based on the testimonies about a great crust!
They're usually about 5 bucks or so whenever I see them. But by the laws of thrifting, I bet that as soon as I start looking for one they'll be hard to come by.
I wonder if it would make a good zucchini bread? zucchini bread crust is the BEST.
Slippintrippin84 -- I think that might be difficult, due to the liquid-y nature of quick bread dough. If I understand correctly, this tube is meant for yeast breads, which would hold their shape and stay put in the tube while rising and baking.
If you make a yeasted zucchini bread, though, that's a whole other story!
http://operagirlcooks.com
I have one! It was my mom's and I picked up a year or so ago with the intention of trying it out. Then I thought about how I would get the dough inside of the tube. Thanks for explaining! Now I may actually use it soon. If english muffin dough would work in this thing...
OOH. DUH. the ends aren't closed. ^_^
need to get my eyes checked again.
My dad got me one of those for Christmas '08. I'm embarassed to report that I have yet to use it, it just looks like it would be so hard to use! Perhaps this will give me the motivation to try it...
Also, the bakery La Patisserie in Mooresville, NC uses this type of dish to bake their sandwich bread. It looks neat sliced!
They work well, my grandma used to make cinnamon bread in hers. The trick to cutting slices is to put a few toothpicks on the side opposite your cutting motion.
My roommate used it once to cook a 2 foot long tube of bologna, I still don't think I've gotten all the smell out of the oven.
A friend's mother just showed me a metal version the other day, apparently sold by Pampered Chef. I have no idea what the advantage is of round bread (provolone sandwiches, perhaps?), but it seemed interesting.
what i'm wondering is how to get the bread *out* of it, not into lol
I used to use a french press (the handle could be detached) to make round boston brown bread, but that was a steamed bread. This looks very cute! If the end was capped, I'd be right there...
Wow, I've never seen one before, but now I want it! What fun to have round bread...
I had one! I bought it so I could make "English Muffin Bread," except that I never did. Sigh. I sold it in a garage sale, with my Salton Yogurt Maker. I am such a failure. (but I've worn out TWO waffle irons :)
how did i grow up in the 70's and not know about these? MUST GET ONE!
I have never seen this thing before. But I have baked round loaves of bread in metal coffee cans.
I remember as a kid, probably in the 60s, maybe very early 70s, there was commercially made sliced round bread for a while, a must-have for a kid.
I have six metal tubes with lids at either end, each in a different shape, so that when you cut the bread the slice is shaped--like a heart, or a spade, or an oval, etc. I think I used them once or twice about 20 years ago, and never since. Heads up, Freecycle.
my mom always used coffee cans to make bread in. Growing up all our bread was circles!
My mom bakes bread, and someone gave her the new millennium version of that. She never used it because she said it 'looked weird' and too hard to use.