Bread baking is more of an art than a science and we have more customer correspondence / discussions
about our loaf pans than any other items in our range.
There are hundreds of great recipes for bread and we wouldn’t presume
to claim that any one is better than the next.
At home, all our bread is home baked. Our favourite loaf is made with a 50/50 blend of white
and wholemeal flour, butter and dried yeast. It makes great breakfast toast and the kids find their lunch-box sandwiches keep
hunger at bay all the way through to tea time.
STICKING BREAD
There is phenomenon surrounding bread, which has had us perplexed for years.
It seems that sometimes,
for no apparent reason, bread will stick in the pan. This can be true for experienced bakers or novices. In almost
all cases, it happens when the pan is brand new, yet the vast majority of customers have no problem. Its all very
confusing.
We’ve
tried to analyse recipes, oven types, even the hardness of the local water, but can find no obvious pattern or logical cause.
SOLUTION
But, help is at hand.
After much research, we can categorically state that if you are one of the unlucky few who have experienced the frustrations
of a loaf stuck in the pan, we can help you to avoid it in future:
The simple answer is Ground Nut oil. Not olive oil, or any
of the other dozens of oils now commonly available. Just pure Ground Nut oil. Simply grease the pan with
a light film of the oil before baking (or if you prefer, smear the oil around the dough before putting it in the pan), and
the loaf will come out without a problem.
Most of the people all of the time, or all of the people most of the time……
There are many other
methods which work 99% of the time: butter, margarine, sunflower oil….. all will work brilliantly in most circumstances
and for most bakers. Despite our advice to the contrary, one of our customers happily uses olive oil and has never had a problem.
Certainly olive oil or butter will add something to the flavour of a loaf, so if you are one of the majority who’ve
used your pan successfully for a while, by all means try them and see how you get on. But don’t say we didn’t
warn you!
What seems to be clear
is that if you start with Ground Nut oil when you first use the pan, after a few loaves you can move on to
other methods, or even do away with greasing the pan at all with relative impunity.
Happy Baking!
