I've noticed most posts here are all about the dutch oven. I understand, it looks beautiful, but on a cost and convenience basis why do so many people skip over the humble bread pan?
Less variables, less to go wrong, easier proofing. Especially for people just starting out. What made you skip the humble pan?
by BeeMoMoTron
44 Comments
The bread pictured here uses the same process as my previous post(minus the seeds). Forgot the rule sorry. ☺️
Your bread is a great example of this! Baking in a Dutch oven makes it easy to create and manage steam during baking. These loaves look a bit steam deprived.
You know, I just started using the bread pan for Sourdough. I love it so much more then a banneton, and so much easier I might add. I won’t go back.
Nice looking bread by the way!
I love to use my Emile Henry long loaf pan (I’ve seen it called Italian Loaf and Pullman). I really don’t want to use a steam tray in the oven, and so I bake covered as one does in a Dutch oven. I like the shape of longer loafs.
Elly who does home milled flour breads uses all sorts of bread tins and puts them in what looks like an upside down aluminum roasting pan. Again I think for steam.
Your breads look wonderful btw.
I love making Sourdough sandwich loaves. They just are more practical to me~♡
I’ve actually been wanting to make a loaf in my bread pan, so I can make sandwiches easier. I’m just stuck in the Dutch oven rhythm right now. I’ll get out eventually lol
They’re so cute they look like they belong in animal crossing
I have a Dutch oven, I don’t own a bread pan!
When I worked in a bread bakery we used those large Pullman loaf pans to make loaves and as a busy baker they were great. No scoring, no messing around with a peel and potentially messing up the dismount, no remembering to inject steam then release it, just slide the lid in and toss it in. Easy peasy. I should get a Pullman pan tbh, my big use case is eating it with things like pasta or lasagna and it’d definitely be easier to cut…
Ask for skipping it, I didn’t exactly it’s just the house we moved into left behind an ancient and rusty cast iron chili pot that I brought back to life and use instead. I’ve had my eye on a challenger pan but I don’t make enough bread imo to justify the cost so I just stick with my inherited chili pot 😬.
Hey my name is Dale Dobeck.. I think I can help with this pan/pann dilemma.
Honestly I just already own a Dutch oven but I would have to buy a separate bread pan. That’s the only reason.
I mean the honest answer is probably because food influencers and the Covid sourdough boom has turned people on to baking as a lifestyle thing. But at the same time, hearth style bread is arguably the most technically demanding style of bread baking and thus the desire to perfect the craft gets a hold on people.
Bread has become less utilitarian now, and the poor loaf pan has suffered 🙁
Once I started getting a few good looking hearth loaves I started using my loaf pan a lot more. HAVING fresh bread on hand has finally become more important than just baking it lol
I like using a pan, high protein flour is expensive here, and can be like $7 for 1kg. Large bags are harder to get or too much effort
my current 20kg bag is slightly above average but it wont take a lot of hydration so a pan is just easier
I do both. Typically only make one loaf at a time so either the Dutch oven or in a bread pan with another bread pan flipped on top of it for a lid (steam).
Design on the top made me gasp with delight. Nice. 👍
I like me some stereotypical bread shaped sour dough loafs, so that I can optimize my sandwiches. The free form and other methods never get the right height
I think people use the dutch oven more because they have one. Dutch ovens have a lot more uses than a bread pan does so most people own one.
I just made my first loaf in a bread pan and I think I like better than the Dutch oven! It was so much easier!!
I’ve done both. Get more oven spring in dutch oven. That simple.
IDK dude. I love pan bread.
I’ve used dutch ovens for cooking since 2017, I’m the type of person to wonder how anyone cooks without them. I have 5 and none were for bread when I bought them.
A 7 L dutch fits a half kilo batard easily.
The same recipe, made in a loaf pan vs a Dutch oven, will be different in texture/crust. There’s also the open bake nature of a loaf pan vs the trapped steam of a Dutch (unless you are putting another pan on top.)
Different strokes for different folks
I love those pans. What kind/size are they?
do you cold proof in the bread pan?
The artisan loaf craze. Free standing loves look different.
There are differences in the crust, though pulling out of pan part way through can resolve that.
My sandwich bread is always in a Pullman pan with lid. Others just depend on my mood.
Just don’t see many posts using pans because it’s not the niche right now.
As a Moulin Rouge fan:
🎶BECAUSE YOU PAN PAN PAN!🎶
Do you cover these to cook? I want to get a loaf pan but didn’t know if I need one with a lid. The glass loaf pan I used without a lid resulted in bread that was a bit gummy. You’re right people don’t talk about loaves enough! Thank you for broaching the topic 🙂
I love my pan loaves. I make one or two a week. I make boules to bring to people’s houses, I make loaves to feed my kids.
IMO it is a different style of bread with a different use case. If you want a really airy, open crumb and dark, crunchy crust, baking a boule in a dutch oven or something similar is the way to go. If you want a tighter crumb and to be able to use the bread of sandwiches and things like that, loaf pans are great. It’s just a question of what you are going for with your bread. Of course, like others have said, the “wow factor” and the social media effect are a big part of why boules are very popular.
I had not even considered using a regular loaf pan. I’ve used it for a recipe that is specifically sandwich bread but not a typical sourdough loaf!!
What your timing/method?
I’ve been experimenting with pan loaves lately but I’m having trouble getting them to brown evenly. The ends are nearly burnt before the middle is browned. Any suggestions?
I’m all about pans. Keep going!
I really like those pans! Where could I find something like that? They look well used.
I’ve been working on my loaf tin recipes so that I can bake in my toaster oven instead of running the big oven in the summer time.
When I got a cast iron dutch oven, I looked for ways to branch out in uses for it. So I ended up learning how to make bread because of my dutch oven. I thought it needs to be covered to preserve the humidity. I don’t even know how to use a pan to make bread. Do you have to add water in a separate container to create steam in the stove?
What pans do you guys recommend?
For a more practical answer, lots of nonstick bakeware manufacturers stipulate a temperature limit (425 or so) and depending on if you want a crust, you have to crank your oven higher than that.
https://preview.redd.it/zxjrcngrmape1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51d764e10031cf3ae2c9091f064b8817e3df9a57
Mine today
I always scorch my bottoms in the dutch oven so I started doing way more loaf pan bakes!!! I enjoy for an enriched sandwich bread! I add honey and avocado oil
https://preview.redd.it/w4tmytbmqape1.jpeg?width=1358&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84c1c7e7afb46dd39422091e5d92e3fe21bc234a
I use my covered superstone bakers
I got away from the boule pretty quick myself. I like the softer sourdough. These are in the fridge currently. I’ll bake them after work today.
https://preview.redd.it/fvfm8cmqqape1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d51e1e489548e868fea99292ce8dfe7d50f63514
I like a loaf pan for even slices for like sandwiches but the big round loaf just feels right for dipping in soup
I make sandwich loaves 90% of the time, it’s so much more practical to make and for the family to eat. The other 10% is split between baguettes or boules if I’m bringing bread somewhere.
Do you cold ferment these in a banneton or in the pans themselves? If in the pan, do you prepare the pans before an overnight proof, or do you liberally rice flour the loaf and hope nothing sticks? I’d like to try this but I’m concerned about sticking.