Cast iron loaf pan for baking bread, anyone?

15 years ago

Has anyone used a cast iron loaf pan for baking bread? If you do, do you use the same oven temperature set in the recipe or do you lower it down?

I'm thinking that by using a cast iron pan, it would help baking evenly and the crust to be crispier. But cast iron is hot and I'm wondering if I need to lower the oven temperature to avoid burning.

Thanks!

Natalie

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Comments (6)

lindac
15 years ago
Cast iron is no hotter than aluminum nor stainless in the same oven...
You put a cast iron pan and an aluminum one in a 350 oven and neither can get hotter than 350.
I suspect that cast iron will heat more evenly than say stainless or glass, but that shouldn't affect the temperature.
Linda C
kframe19
15 years ago
Linda's correct, it won't get hotter than 350.

HOWEVER, and that's a big however...

There are huge differences in how glass, ceramic, aluminum, and cast iron transfer heat into (or out of) something that is touching it, and that can have a marked effect on the condition of the final product.
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trsinc
15 years ago
Do you have a cast iron loaf pan? Where did you get it?

I use a pampered chef stone loaf pan. It gets the crust a lot crisper than a regular pan. I also use the rectangular flat stone in the oven when I bake bread and I'll remove the bread from the loaf pan, when done, and cook it a few minutes on the stone for even more crispness.
seagrass_gw Cape Cod
15 years ago
I don't know if this counts, but I bake cornbread in a cast iron skillet sometimes instead of my 8 x 8 metal pan. It spreads a little thinner, so it cooks a bit faster and the edges and bottom have a nicer crust in the cast iron.

seagrass
ntt_hou
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks. Linda & Kframe responds made sense. My brain must have slowing down...

Trsinc, I bought it on Amazon.com at the link below.

Ok, I'll give it a try in a few days and will try to report the result.

Here is a link that might be useful: Santa Fe Cast Iron Loaf Pan
readinglady
15 years ago
It really will depend on the recipe. If you're making a yeast bread you'll have a cold cast iron pan and there's going to be a certain amount of time for the pan itself to absorb heat. Once the heat is absorbed it will brown beautifully and you will find the bread has a wonderful crust.

But for a quick bread (i.e. cornbread) you can preheat the pan if you wish. That will give you a quick burst of heat and faster results.

You're just going to have to play with the pan and make notes per each recipe until you get a sense of how the pan works for your favorites.

Carol

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Cast iron loaf pan for baking bread, anyone?

Comments (6)

lindac

kframe19

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trsinc

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Cast iron loaf pan for baking bread, anyone?

Comments (6)

lindac

kframe19

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trsinc

seagrass_gw Cape Cod

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readinglady

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