What do bakers and pastry chefs use? The professional baker’s choice is heavy gauge ALUMINUM: Those that stand up to 3 years of commercial and 70 years of home use. Where can you get them? Granted not everyone has access to a restaurant supply store, but there are aluminum baking pans out there... you only have to look. Don’t waste your time with aluminum coated pans, look for Double-Thick Aluminum. These will give you years of baking pleasure despite the occasional burning disaster.
Forget the dark baking pans, the coated and non-stick pans sold in department stores, the pampered bake ware from home parties, the expensive stainless steel or the cheap dollar store pans that warp and burn everything. If it is a steel or tin underneath the pan will rust. Be it thin or heavy construction coated pans do not stand up to scorching and scouring. I am not sure where stainless steel baking pans belong. Is it a case for I don’t bake too often or I like to have expensive things? Stainless steel is a poor conductor of heat, that is a fact, and in all probability will not heat evenly. Beware of new inventions... The latest craze is stoneware cookie sheets. I potted long enough to know how fragile stoneware is in the oven especially in square and rectangular configurations.
If you are concerned about using aluminum, the baking pan should be lined with parchment paper anyway. Lining with parchment cuts down on cleaning substantially. Soak the pan and take the scouring pad to it, just don’t put it into the dishwasher. The aluminum will come out coated with nasty and a couple of hours of elbow grease will be required to restore it to its former glory. Still it will be salvageable. Not many baking pans would be after a cycle in the dishwasher.
