The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Foil mini-loaf pans??

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Foil mini-loaf pans??

This weekend I plan on baking Leader's Little Blue Cheese Rye Loaves from Local Breads. The recipe calls for four mini-loaf pans, 2.5" x 5" x 2". I don't own any loaf pans and don't want to spend $$ on mini-pans I may never use again, so I purchased a set of five "Handi foil" mini-pans for $1.69.

I'm now wondering if these foil pans will be adequate. The loaves are to be baked at 400F for 25 to 35 minutes. It's taken me about seven days to prepare the levain and I'll be using about six bucks worth of blue cheese. I don't want to wind up with a burnt crust or undercooked crumb because of the pans.

Do you think the foil pans will work, or am I courting disaster?

Thanks for any suggestions/comments/shared experience.

 

GrapevineTXoldaccount's picture
GrapevineTXolda...

Sourdough/parchment & foil makeshift panSourdough/parchment & foil makeshift pan

GrapevineTXoldaccount's picture
GrapevineTXolda...

I posted a pic for you in hopes that I might be able to offer a tip.  I would have inserted my comment along with the pic, but I'm still learning how to navigate the site. 

In my earliest days of baking sourdough I came up with this.  All that it consists of is a sheet of folded parchment paper with an interior sheet of folded aluminum foil tied off with kitchen twine.  Once the bread had cooled, I would simply snip my twine and, 'Voila'! there was my bread.  (I baked this atop a pizza stone).

The crust was not crunchy, but golden in color, and it made for a pretty loaf with the exception of the small bit of area around the tie-off (caused by the rise and expansion of the loaf). 

I think if you create a bit of insulation around those foil pans you'll be fine.  If you have parchment, fine, if not simply use another layer of foil and keep an eye on your oven.   

sonofYah's picture
sonofYah

You may have already baked your bread by now. These foils pans should work fine. I have used them before to bake banana nut bread.

 Gordon in Texas

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Thanks for the comments. Grapevine, that's one creative bread pan!

I'll be baking these loaves on Saturday so it's good to know the foil pans will work. But now I wonder if baking a ten-ounce loaf for 25-35 minutes in a 400F oven is a bit of overkill. This is a Dan Leader recipe and because of the errors in his book, I pretty much question everything in it. I'll just keep a close watch and my instant read thermometer handy.

nbicomputers's picture
nbicomputers

You might want to place the foil loaf pans on a baking tray or a cookie sheet if your oven as a strong bottom heat to prevent the bottom of your bread from burning.

 

LindyD's picture
LindyD

I've got a baking stone in the oven and will probably use a baking tray on top of that since my oven is gas (and new) and the heat comes from the bottom.

Am looking forward to these loaves. My kids hate blue cheese so that means this bread won't mysteriously disappear as they go out the door. ;-)

Oldcampcook's picture
Oldcampcook

I bake all the time in the disposable aluminium pans I buy at Wal-mart.  I do not dispose of them, either.  Each of them has been used at least a dozen times.

I like the size of them for "give away" loaves.

One caution - the loaves do not get nearly as golden brown as they do in a darker pan.  I sometimes take them out of the pans and leave them on the oven rack for the last 10 minutes or so to darken them a bit.

Bob

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Thanks for your assurances they would.

I wound up baking Dan Leader's Auvergne Little Blue Cheese Rye Loaves at 11:00 p.m. last night. The levain I had so lovingly created over nine days had a temper tantrum and refused to raise the dough. At 10:00 p.m. Saturday, the dough has risen maybe half an inch over my tape mark. Murphy's Law? Not wanting to be baking bread at 2:00 a.m. Easter Sunday morning, I put it into the refrigerator overnight. Not in the instructions, but my options were limited: bake or sleep. The latter won out.

Before I left to have dinner with my family on Sunday, I removed the dough from cold storage and set it on the counter. When I returned home, I saw the dough had done what it should have done Saturday afternoon - it had doubled. So I set about shaping the four small loaves.

The dough didn't feel as firm as Leader implied it should be, and I thought it was a bit on the sticky side so my shaped little loves weren't pretty, but I was able to roll the dough over the cheese and get them into the pans, then push more cheese into the tops. Placed the foil pans on my stone and baked the full 35 minutes. The bottom crust was nicely browned. Those cheap foil pans did a good job.

Tonight I had four thin slices of the bread for dinner, with a salad and glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. The overnight cold fermentation didn't seem to do any harm as the bread had a lovely taste and texture. You have to really like blue cheese to bake this bread as the aroma of the melting cheese was quite strong, as is the taste of the cheese--and I did not use the full 30 grams the formula calls for.

Here's a picture of one loaf and a couple slices (the largest hole is an air pocket surrounding the cheese). The other three have been frozen. Pretty, no. Tasty, yes!

Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

I love bleu cheese..the slice with the big chunk is for me..right, I'm the guest : )

nbicomputers's picture
nbicomputers

your just like me.   sometimes i make chicken wings just to for a reason to dip something in the bleu cheese dressing because if i just used a spoon it would look funny.

i have a recipe for cheese bread but it calls for a dry hard cheese. seeing this i am going to reformulate it for bleu cheese

bring on the onion soup

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Too late, Paddyscake. That was the first one I ate!

I think the next time I mix up the "five minute" rye bread, I'll cut off 10 ounces/248 grams, flatten it into a four-inch square, put cut up blue cheese cubes on top of the square, then shape it into a loaf and pop it in a pan. Then more blue cheese on top, of course. I like to freestyle with the five minute recipes.

Norm, do try rye with your cheese bread modification. The rye and the blue compliment each other quite nicely.