I'm waiting for my Nesco delivery and hanging on your every word!

Hmmm. I hae a six quart, but I've baked mostly in the big 18 quart.

Using the 6 quart, I did bake brownies and they were good, but browning is not a factor, really. I used a dark 8 inch square Kaiser brand pan. I baked a free form whole wheat loaf, just covered the rack with foil and put it right on the rack and it came out well too, and I'm thinking it might be really good for cheesecake, put water in the bottom of the Nexco, the cheesecake on the rack and have a built in Bain Marie....

My 6 quart is oval and so the shape prevents me from using most of my pans in there.

Annie

A Bain Marie--brilliant! I'll be trying that for my Flan de leche.

Thanks Annie, That's more information than I had!

You're welcome, it's all trial and error for me. I didn't even think of baking in it until I had promised brownies for a charity bake sale and the oven just quit. I had nothing to lose, really, and dragged out the book. Eureka, it said I could bake brownies in there. So I did, and they came out fine.

They were chocolate brownies, though, so I couldn't determine how well they browned!

Cathy, if you try it as a Bain Marie before I do, let me know how that works, it's just a theory on my part right now but I think it would work well.

Annie

Far from an expert and not a ton of experience with bread baking in the Nesco, but I've done some. I don't recall baking breads over 350ð. A dark pan will generally yield a browner product. As a test, you could try the aluminum foil pans to see if that makes a difference. I'm wondering if something in the recipe could impact it.

I don't think it's recommended and I've never tried it, but I seem to recall a few people who remove the cookwell when baking in a pan, theory being you're baking in a pan, in another pan when you have the pan inside the cookwell. I do have a concern about it being such a tight fit with your glass pan in there. It doesn't really give any air space around the pan for baking so it'd be more like being in a frypan. I'd have to give this one some more thought.

When I've done the "whack-a-tube" type biscuits in there, I don't use a pan, I put some foil on the rack and set them on there.

Cynic, Thanks for your input. I will try your recommendation of a foil pan, which is probably the best idea. I'm with you on the 350 degree temperature, especially after tasting the loaf that was baked at 375. (Generally, I think that's a better temperature for ''baking'' anyway, and never quite understood recipes that call for higher temperatures.)

I tried making rolls in the glass pan, which had some space around them, but I can see they would brown better without the low sides.

The rack was missing in mine, so I made do with a smaller rack from something else. It works to set pans onto, but not as a cookie sheet. It's not optimum for how I'm trying to use it.

It looks like I'll be doing more experimenting!

Cdl, that's funny, my girls all 350F the "universal temperature". If I'm not really sure what temperature something is supposed to be baked at, I always revert to 350F, LOL.

My rack is just like a cake rack with handles and sits about 1/2 inch off the bottom o the roaster, so I jut cover it with heavy duty foil and put a loaf of bread right on there. I don't see why that wouldn't work for dinner rolls too.

Can you fashion a makeshift rack out of a cake rack? Or maybe use an old canner's trick, wire some canning jar rings together to the right size and shape and cover it with foil to use as a rack?

Annie

Annie, you know...it's kind of an odd size as far as the rack goes. I like your idea of using canning jar lids; heaven knows I have plenty of those! I'm thinking about taking measurements and seeing what kind of small aluminum pan I can find at the dollar/grocery store. I think I could flip a short one upside down and use it that way. I'll let ya'll know what I find!