Cinnamon Roll Pans?

January 3, 2013 - 4:53am

Greg D

Cinnamon Roll Pans?

I was taught to bake cinnamon rolls in well greased 11 x 14 metal "baking pans" which have sides that are about 2" tall. I cuit the rolls about 1 1/2 inches thick and they swell to about 3 inches thick when baked. Results have been consistently good. However, I have begun baking in larger batches and since I use half-sheet pans lined with parchment paper for all my other baking except hearth breads, I am wondering if I can bake cinnamon rolls in a half-sheet pan which as you know has sides that are less than 1 inch tall. I suspect that the outer row of rolls (which will be exposed directly to oven temperature air) will get darker than if I baked in a high sided pan, but I am not sure about that.

Anybody else doing this? I hate to risk $$$ worth of dough, butter, cinnamon and walnuts if I am headed for certain disaster.

Thanks and happy baking.

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Mini Oven

Jan 3 2013 - 5:50am

ideas about evenly baking rolls on large pans

yes, I've noticed the outside rolls brown before the inside rolls. (we're talking shiny pans right?)

I haven't baked such a large pan of rolls myself but...

Some solutions could be:

to lower the temperature a little bit (which will lengthen the bake by a few minutes but well worth it)
rotate the pan but that doesn't seem to fix the middle rolls.
leave the middle of the pan empty. (Place an upside down dark loaf pan in the middle if sides are needed)
Or turn on the oven fan to circulate the heat better after placing the pan in the oven. (Fan for a minute, turn off fan, then turn it on again after 7 or so minutes. or turn down the temp while constantly using the fan.)

Home Baker

Jan 3 2013 - 8:12am

pan extenders?

I've tried baking cinnamon rolls on parchment in half sheet pans a couple of times. Both times the rolls ended up being flatter and looser than the rolls I get from an aluminum cake pan. Seems like the rolls "rise" sideways in the shallower sided pan, not upwards. The same holds true for sandwich rolls.

The WEBstaurant store has a selection of pan extenders for full and half sheet pans. The sectioned half sized pan extender description lists cinnamon rolls as one of the products for which it is best suited. One of these days I'll pick up a pan extender but I'll probably start with the much cheaper undivided version and buy it locally to save freight charges.

Melesine

Jan 4 2013 - 8:40am

Thanks for asking, because

Thanks for asking, because I've been considering the same thing for awhile now.

Greg D

Jan 4 2013 - 10:17am

Home Baker - thanks for the

Home Baker - thanks for the pan extension tip and link. I have never heard of them before, but they appear to be the perfect solution to my issue. For the record I went ahead and tried a full half-sheet pan of cinnamon rolls and without the higher sides the rolls on the outside edge of the pan (which is a lot of cinnamon rolls in a half-sheet pan) spread out too much and were "tipped" toward the edge of the pan and didn't look as good as I wanted. I will try again when the pan extenders arrive.

Happy Baking.