Baking paper: types and rules of use
Every housewife must have baking paper in her arsenal. It is simply necessary for the preparation of hot dough dishes, baked meat and pastries.
Peculiarities
Baking parchment is used to maintain the shape of the baked dish by reducing the sticking of the product to the baking sheet. Moreover, this option is relevant not only when creating hot baked goods, but also for cold sweet products, for example, cheesecakes and tiramisu. The use of baking paper significantly reduces labor costs for washing dishes and embossed shapes, therefore, in stores it can be purchased not only in the form of flat leaves, but also as a mold for muffins and muffins.
Baking paper is truly indispensable for wrapping cooked food, medicine and any sterile items. This prevents spoilage, contamination and drying out of food. Baking paper has long been adopted by catering enterprises, in particular, restaurants that prepare "take-away".
Thanks to its exceptional water and grease resistance, baking paper allows you to keep the prepared dish hot for as long as possible. By rolling the dough between several layers of paper, you can get ultra-thin cakes. They are transferred to the oven directly on the sheet, thereby eliminating the risk of breaking them along the way.
Baking paper can be used to make very good food corners for cream, condensed milk, and melted chocolate - by folding them like a bag, you can quickly and easily decorate homemade cakes with decorative roses, curls, or make an interesting inscription.
Paper is often used to make stencils for confectionery decorations - for this you just need to place the sheet on the pattern you like, circle it with a pencil and cut it out, then transfer the template to a cake or pie and sprinkle with grated chocolate, cocoa or sweet powder. Some housewives use multi-colored coconut flakes.
If you do not have utensils for a microwave, then you can reheat the dish directly on baking paper - in this case, all its taste properties are fully preserved.
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Edible unbleached parchment
It is a higher quality tissue paper that is popular for storing food and making cakes and other hot meals. The basis for its manufacture is fatty cellulose, therefore the products are characterized by exceptional environmental friendliness and safety for humans. However, it should be borne in mind that unbleached parchment retains only fat, and allows moisture to pass through - this significantly limits the scope of its use.
In addition, the recommended heating temperature when using this material should not exceed 170 degrees.
Food parchment
This is a classic baking paper - quite durable, smooth to the touch. As a rule, it is produced in brown color. The basis for the parchment is a porous filter base, treated with 50% sulfuric acid and dried forcibly. This method of production gives the paper increased water and grease resistance, and these properties remain unchanged when heated to 230 degrees.
This material is biologically inert, it allows air to pass through, thanks to which the product gets the opportunity to "breathe" without absorbing any extra odors. The strength factor of traditional edible parchment is twice that of ordinary baking paper, which makes it possible to use the product for packaging products such as margarine, butter, spreads, sweet cheeses and dessert curd masses.
Silicone coated parchment
It is one of the most popular types of baking paper these days. Such parchment easily lags behind all types of finished products, while it does not need grease. The thermal resistance coefficient significantly exceeds the parameters of all other types of baking paper and can withstand prolonged heating up to 300 degrees. It is important that such paper can be used many times.
Silicone coated parchment allows you to transfer layers of puff pastry before freezing, as well as to store cheese and sausage slices - in this case, the product retains its freshness longer than during normal storage.
A separate type of silicone coated paper is considered to be special silicone paper - it has a thicker coating, which means it can be used more times.
Selection Tips
The relevance of tracing paper, which our mothers and grandmothers often used instead of baking parchment, is not great today - the scope of its use is significantly limited. Food parchment paper is most popular among housewives. Ogood because does not require additional use of oil and at the same time perfectly retains the shape of the baked product.
Experienced pastry chefs prefer silicone coated paper because it is easy to use, used for all types of baking, and can easily withstand temperatures up to 300 degrees for a long time.
Baking paper is sold in a wide variety of household and online stores. Several dozen enterprises are engaged in its manufacture, but the most popular products are brands. Paclan and Nordic.
Paclan parchment is a silicone-coated paper that perfectly follows the surface and contours of the baking sheet, does not crumble, does not stick to the dough and can be reused.Despite the fact that this parchment is quite thin, it is still quite durable and can withstand the highest temperatures.
Nordic products have similar characteristics. By purchasing paper of this brand, you can always be sure that you can easily prepare the most real confectionery masterpieces without the slightest fear that they will deform or stick to the baking sheet.
How to use?
Like regular foil, baking paper has two sides. On a baking sheet, the paper must be laid out so that it is located with the matte side down. There is no need to lubricate silicone parchment with oil. For other types of baking paper, see the information on the packaging. As a rule, they write there whether there is impregnation or not. If it is not there, then before placing it in the oven, grease the sheet with vegetable fat. Such processing will also not be superfluous if you plan to bake meat or fish.
Baking parchment can be used in a multicooker. This modern gadget is found in almost every home - housewives cook, fry and bake a variety of products in them. Most often, the bottom and walls of the multicooker are laid out with food parchment. Firstly, this will allow you to easily and quickly clean the bowl, and secondly, the dish turns out to be more juicy and aromatic.
Good pans with non-stick Teflon coating are usually quite expensive, and frying meat products or fish in a large amount of oil is not at all good for the body, so women often wonder about the possibility of using baking paper for baking when preparing such dishes. This method is equally effective when roasting in a skillet or baking in the oven. In the first case, it is better to additionally lubricate the surface with vegetable oil, and in the second case, the existing impregnation will be enough.
The relationship of housewives with parchment for baking is not always perfect. Sometimes dough, fish, meat and meringues, despite expectations, still stick to the parchment paper. The reason for this can only be its misuse - either you took the sheets without impregnation, or you set it aside with the glossy side down. But if, nevertheless, an incident occurred and the parchment has already adhered to the dough, then it will be possible to remove it only from the cooled product - it is impossible to peel off the paper from hot baked goods.
What can replace paper?
If you constantly bake pastries, then it is possible that the parchment runs out at the most inopportune moment for this. An alternative to it can be a tracing paper, which can always be purchased at any stationery store.
Previously, tracing paper was widely used in the culinary business. Of all the types of paper used for baking, it is considered the thinnest and most budgetary material, therefore it has many disadvantages.
- Before use, the tracing paper must be lubricated with oil, and on both sides. If you don't do this, it will simply stick to the dish during cooking.
- Under the influence of high temperatures and with a prolonged stay in the oven, the tracing paper darkens, becomes very brittle and may even crumble into small pieces, which then cannot be separated from the dough.
- When in contact with moisture, the tracing paper quickly soaks, so you cannot use it for cooking dishes with a juicy filling, for the same reason it can only be taken when working with shortcrust or yeast dough.
Also, such materials can become an alternative to baking paper.
- Foil - it must be placed on a baking sheet with the glossy side up, while the top side must be greased with a thin layer of vegetable oil (this is not necessary when baking meat and fish).
- Teflon paper - used for frying in a pan and baking in the oven. With these sheets, you don't have to worry about your food sticking during cooking.
- Siliconized paper or mat Is the ideal material for baking. Such a rug is much denser than paper, because the food on it does not burn, and the baked goods turn out to be appetizing and ruddy.
If you do not have any of the above at hand, then you can use the most common copier paper, but first it should be thoroughly oiled on both sides.
Sometimes every housewife has situations when they are still forced to serve pies and pastries with pieces of parchment stuck to it. In this regard, many people have a question - what will happen if it is not possible to completely clean it off and the household accidentally swallows a small piece.
We hasten to reassure you - baking parchment is made from cellulose and fiber. Penetrating into the stomach of a person, it slightly swells, but at the same time it is perfectly absorbed and digested, therefore there will be no trouble from the eaten piece for a person.
In the next video, you will find two life hacks with baking paper.