I just bought Pam for baking and thought I could use it to grease a casserole dish, but it looked like foamy butter and smelled of fake vanilla flavoring (vanillin?).

Now, I probably shouldn't have tried to use it for cooking a savory casserole, but I thought it could do double duty.

I wouldn't even use it for baking.

I had the same happen with BJ years ago and switched to Bak-Klean from Williams Sonoma. It's awesome! I usually order it when they have free shipping.

Do a search in GW for : Homemade non-stick coating. It is called "Better than Pam" and seems to be well liked by many cooks on this forum.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2376110/jasdip-your-better-than-pam-recipe?n=9

Thanks. I might make up a half-batch of jasdip's recipe and give it a try. I don't bake a lot, but 'tis the season!

I've been using that Better Than Pam coating for about a dozen years. I just stir, stick a sandwich bag on my hand and grease away. I don't use it when cookie recipes request greased cookie sheets; I use parchment paper for cookies.

I'm also supporting the "Better Than Pam" recipe because it really is. More so lately.

I agree, I like the "Better than Pam" recipe and use it regularly. I tried the Pam for Baking and it's OK, but I like the homemade stuff better. I've also used the Wilton version, "Bake Easy" or something similar. Again, it works OK, but I still like the homemade stuff better. I have a silicone brush with very small flexible bristles and use that to get into crevices and small designs on the fancier pans.

I've never tried the Williams Sonoma version, they're a bit pricey on most everything so I never even looked! Now you know I'll have to try it, LOL.

Annie

I got an email from Williams Sonoma for some percent off their peppermint candles, that I love. While I was ordering the candles, I ordered the Bak-Klean too. To make the "Better than Pam" concoction, I'd have to buy shortening. What can I say; I'm lazy. :-/

I've been using Bakers & Chefs Cooking Spray (commonly used in professional kitchens) for many years and would highly recommend trying it before using anything with shortening in it. The best part of Bakers & Chefs is that it resists darkening under heat - so no messy baked-on junk accumulating on pans - plus it's flavorless and great for low-fat baking/cooking since it only adds a trivial amount of fat. No water or alcohol in the mixture.

I used to get it from Sam's Club and the local restaurant supply store, and now I usually just order it from Amazon.

I have had the same issue with cans of Pam, they just stop spraying and they are still almost full. Very annoying!

I use the Aldi cooking spray--somewhat generously--and then dust with flour.

I used to make my own cooking oil spray using vegetable oil thinned out with 180 proof Everclear grain alcohol. I could then spray the mixture using a hand pump sprayer. The 180 proof alcohol is no longer legal in this state - 151 proof max now.

I bought a 2 pack of Bakers&Chefs at sams club a while back, the first can lasted a few times then all the aerosol was gone and the can still pretty full, the second can I still have, every time I use it I get just as much on my hand and the can as in the pan I'm spraying, somthing wrong with the nozzle.

I have a couple of the Misto sprayers and just checked...they still spray but i need to empty and run through the dish washer as the oil gets rancid. I usually keep them clean and use for the short holiday season. (not much of a baker)

They still spray and mist fine after many years...one i bought and have never used yet, thinking they may go out of business at some point...nice to have any who....

Careful of some gaskets when dishwashing...they fall out and are necessary for good spritzing. But usually just use avocado oil on a p-towel and rub it in.

The 'better' mix seems good for serious and weekly bakers. Not sure if i would keep it for months. I don't care for a oil then flour if flour remains on the baked goods. I don't like the raw flour taste on baked goods. I switched DH bread from flour to fresh ground corn flour or better, fresh ground wheat germ for his 'ball bearings'/dusting when sliding into the hot baking pot.

I have never bought the sprays for home use. I use a few at work for mold release and such...it is motor oil in my book. Not fit for kitchen and food.

I too like the homemade 'Better than Pam'....I usually make a half recipe and store in frig.......my daughter thinks it is great also......

I am no opposed to the homemade mixes but I don't use the spray very often, just a few certain times a year, and like that a can lasts for a couple years. Also, I have some crevice heavy, Nordic cake pans and the spray is easy.

If I needed a spray often, I would consider the homemade versions.

I first learned about this pan release (sometimes called goop or pan goop or Better than Pam) in 2009 on the cooking forum, and have been using it with good results ever since.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2455020/how-to-keep-your-cake-from-sticking-in-the-pan?n=25

In fact, I just used it tonight on a Nordic Ware mini bundt cake pan and the cakes came out easily! However, getting all the grooves and crevices cleaned out in the mini bundt pan is a challenge, and worth a separate post to see if anyone has any ideas about cleaning it.

Smiles,

Sooz

Can someone please tell me what the benefit is of using a spray or Better than Pam, over just good old butter and flour? That is all I've ever used. Never felt the need for something else.

I think it works better on pans with intricate nooks and crannies. It's not as messy either and it's faster. I still use butter and flour for regular cake pans.

Okay, I guess that makes some sense. Although I find with Bundt pans and pans with nooks and crannies that it is easy to just brush on melted butter and dust with flour. The butter solidifies on the cold surface of the pan.

AnnT, for most items I just butter and flour, like regular cake pans. Or for chocolate, I use butter and cocoa if I don't want the white flour on the cake. I use parchment for cookies and don't grease at all and bread pans for loaves get just butter and nothing else. But I have some specialty pans, like those muffin pans shaped like kittens and vehicles, and I find that the "Better than Pam" works better for me on those. The butter kind of settles into the grooves and then the flour clumps up and I have a small lump of flour where I should have a nose or a headlight or something. The pre-mixed stuff seems to slide on and not settle into the grooves so much.

Annie

I have been making the recipe you call Better Than Pam for 50 years. You can also use one cup of flour and two cups of shortening if you do not have oil. Or in any equal amount you want.

Sue

When my Baker's Joy did not so joyfully work, I sprayed the bundt pan with Pam and floured it. Flouring a bundt pan is a pain! I ended up with flour everywhere. I can flour a regular cake pan easily, but the bundt pan is a different story. Although I thought I had done a good job - there were no flourless areas - I still had one small place that stuck.

Here is the recipe I made (I don't know what is wrong with the formatting!)

Raw Apple Cake

INGREDIENTS

• • 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups chopped peeled apples (appx 3 apples)
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon soda
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
• GLAZE
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• juice of one lemon

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Mix sugar, oil, and eggs. Add apples. Chop 1 cup at a time and add to oil mixture to prevent apples from darkening. Sift flour with soda, spices, and salt. Gradually add to oil-apple mixture. Mix well and add chopped pecans if desired.
2. Bake in a greased and floured bundt pan for 1 hour.
3. Glaze with 1 cup of powdered sugar mixed with juice of 1 lemon drizzled over cake.

Do y'all use regular flour? I've always used Wondra (fine barley
flour). It feels heavier than AP wheat when I'm knocking it around the
pan, but it doesn't clump or stick to itself, or go airborne. I've thought of trying the Better than Pam, but by the time I think of it, it seems easier to just grease and flour than making up the BtP recipe.

The big rose bundt is a
pain and half because of all the sharp points, and the fact that even
though it's coated, the cake will stick in poorly floured
crevices, but overflour and you won't get your points, and the tiniest
bubble and ruin the appearance. Brushing the butter/oil is essential because spray will puddle in the crevices. It takes some good hard knocks to get the excess flour out of the crevices, but worth it in the end.

Marilyn Sue, you made me smile. I 'discovered' Pan Coating (that's what the mixture was called, back in the old days . . . 1980s. Haha). But I appreciate how the name has changed over the years. Same product, different name. An improvement, I'd say.

Anyway, it was during a 20-year 'stint' at wedding and birthday cakes that I learned about Pan Coating from Maid of Scandinavia's publication Mailbox News. And I've been using it ever since. I've posted the basic recipe here, somewhere. But I also blogged about it in 4/25/2008.

Btw, Ann, some bakers (including me) make the Pan Coating using Butter & Flour. Mixing butter and flour is a one-step process I prefer, rather than greasing and flouring.

I will admit, I do not use the Butter/Flour concoction for everyday baking, like bread loaves or homey cakes. For that, i use the Flour/Shortening mixture.

For serious baking, I use the Butter & Flour mixture. And, I apply it with a brush, for a couple of reasons:

I have long fingernails, which, btw, are cleaner than a nun's habit on Sunday.

Plus, I'd despise getting that greasy muck under my nails. Also, I have far better control using a brush for application. Fingertips cannot get into the small crevices of some baking pans.

One more thing, the shortening/flour stuff keeps forever, stored in the fridge, However, the butter/flour mixture is kept in a small container, in the freezer, along with the brush, which is wrapped in foil.

Sol

LOL, Sol, I don't have long nails, and I never thought of using butter instead of shortening. Thanks!

Annie

Here's another vote for Better than Pam. It releases cakes and breads from pans far better than anything else I have tried. In fact, I am off to bake 2 loaves of banana bread tonight, and Better than Pam will be used on the pans.

I'll add, now i think i need to make a bit of the 'better than pam', (just for the up-coming holidays) having never used Pam...one thing i do not like on baked goods is the raw flour coating if someone uses oil or butter to coat then dusts with flour....sometimes a raw flour 'dusting' ends up on the baked good and it ruins the 'cake' for me.

Put the flour in the butter or oil and you get a non stick but the flour is incorporated in the non-stick coating.

Still not sure if i understand the reason but in words it works for me...

(me thinks?)

I'm not sure, but I think the reason is that people over flour to "make sure" and then have flour that doesn't get "dampened" either by the grease or by the batter. It's the layer of flour between the flour that's touching the grease or batter that remains visible. Anyway, that's my guess. That's another reason why turning over and knocking the pan, when flouring the traditional way, to remove excess is important. If you over slather the BtP, the flour is still greased and incorporates into the cake. :)

Or excess cocoa needs to be knocked off. If you were making a chocolate cake and you were so inclined to use it

;)

Robin, as long as you are frosting the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, you're good. If you're using something else, like buttercream, well you'd better either do a crumb coat or knock that cocoa out of the pan, LOL.

Annie

LOL! Annie, I always do a crumb coat. I don't always get around to a decorative coat, but there are always crumbs in my base coat. :)

But weren't we talking about bundt cakes? If there's frosting it wouldn't matter if there were a little flour or coco loose on the cake. In fact, when I first saw a bundt with a glaze I figured it was to hide the booboos. :) I've since made the key lime one which is a fab cake but even better with the syrup infusion and glaze, so I guess it's for pretty cakes too. :)

Well, we were talking about bundt cakes, until Ann T and I and Bumblebeez muddied the waters talking about different techniques for different pans. That when I mentioned that I used butter and flour for layer cakes unless they are chocolate cakes in which case I use cocoa in place of the flour.

But I've also tried to put a light glaze on a chocolate bundt cake and smeared some residual cocoa into the light glaze, getting a slightly marbled effect. I meant to do that, LOL, or I never admitted that I didn't mean to.

Annie

LOL! Stick with that story! I use cocoa for chocolate cakes too...when I remember. :)

Back to the original thought, I have used butter, a pastry brush and flour for complicated cake pans but what happens is I always miss a few spots then I have to redo them. Ultimately the edges don't come out as sharp and defined as when I use a spray.

You're welcome AnnieBanani.

To recap. For those bakers who are having issues with cakes sticking to pans, use any combination of homemade Pan Coatings, posted above.

For those who do not like the taste (or lack thereof) that shortening offers in the pan release mixture, combine Butter & Flour, instead. Read my comment above.

For those who don't like white splotches on their chocolate cakes, grease, then, dust your pans with baking cocoa.

However, if you bake a lot of chocolate cakes, make a glaze of Cocoa and Melted Butter (or any fat of your choosing) and brush your pan with the chocolate sludge (for lack of a better word). Works like a charm.

For those who fear their cakes will pick up a "raw flour" taste (Sleevendog, I'm looking at you) simply grease your pan, as usual, and dust with Granulated Sugar. The sugar will adhere to the cake, giving it a bit of sweetness and a subtle crunch.

For those who rather not bother with any of the above, stick with whatever you're comfortable with. You'll be happier and less stressed in the end. And the forsaken chunks of cake can either go in English Trifle, or used as a quick snack.

I tried to read all the comments, but I haven't had my coffee yet. Hope I didn't miss anything.

Sol

I finally got around to using the Bak-Klean from W-S about a month ago. It works beautifully and everything I've used it on releases from the pan with no problem. And there is no floury coating on the food. Yes, it is expensive, but a little goes a long ways. I will buy it again!