Hotel pan as a dutch oven?
Would it be worth it to get a hotel pan with a lid and see if it works like a dutch oven? They are light, stainless steel and have a lid. You can also get them 4", 6", and 8" deep. I'm worried about the bottom burning though. Maybe double up like some people do with cookie sheets to imitate the "air bake" pan? Hotel pans are not cheap, $30 for two 1/3 size (6" deep) on Amazon. I was going to maybe try going to a restaurant supply store on Tuesday to see what they have. I may try to get the 1/4 size as the 1/3 size is a 10"x7". They are oven safe, but I wonder about the drawbacks. I would give Graniteware a chance, except a lady I know who cans every few months says hers rusted after boiling it a few times. So I'm leery about today's Granitware as most brands have gone downhill from yester-year. I've not had luck with my other lightweight dutch oven. The metal rim is starting to rust and I've only used it 5 times (Pioneer Woman brand). I need light weight and I figured the lid would make it mimic a dutch oven.
They also sell inserts with holes as well that go in the pan to let grease through, I could put some water in it and then the loaf would sit right on top. I'm not sure if that would make the bread too soggy or not.
Thoughts? Should I try this or has it been done before with failure?
Edit:
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I think the way to go is to just use the hotel pan as a lid and get a cast iron grill/baking stone for the bottom. My concern now is steam and I don't want to punch a hole in the hotel pan since I want to be able to use it like a baking pan as well. But maybe if the grill is large enough, I can just put a small pan next to the bread with water. Time do some measuring! I forgot to mention that I have a gas oven, so it has really big vents and must be dutch-oven style. I'll see what I can find at the stores on Tuesday. I go off on tangents due to my weird brain. Thanks again for your help!
My results were less than stellar but were acceptable although some of that was due to my technique. The image above shows a 900 gram loaf from a 10" oval banneton.
I have recently been wandering in the wilderness of tin pan baking vessels and have come back to the "light". I believe it is all about the heat sink capacity and cast iron seems to have the edge.
Your mileage may vary. Best wishes. Dave
Maybe a cast iron plate or steel plate underneath then? Thank you for sharing your experience. That is something I was wondering about.
I have a deep hotel pan like that!!
I have used the pans inverted as covers over a baking steel with good results. I simply cover the loaf for the first 20 minutes. It’s the simplest method I have found and it seems to work as well as other techniques.
Here is a loaf I baked this morning.
Looks nice! That may be the way to go. I just need to find a baking stone too now.
It's not too hard to remove rust from cast iron. Get some sandpaper for metal (not sandpaper for wood).
I got a package of various grit ratings at Harbor Freight. Start with coarse and end with fine.
Clean and dry thoroughly.
Here is how to re-season:
www.lodgecastiron.com/discover/cleaning-and-care/cast-iron/all-about-seasoning
This works too: http://panman.com/how-to-clean-season-cast-iron/
The Granitware stuff rusted through. It is really thin. I think she got it from Walmart, who is known for making brands make cheaper versions of a good product. I know you can remove rust from the thick stuff. But I also have a nice set of knives that used to be really good in my parents' years. They got me a set and they rusted after the first washing. My parents set? Still going strong, no problems.
Cast Iron seems nice, but I still need it light weight. Maybe a baking stone or steel like others noted. Or maybe just use it like a lid, but I wanted to use it with slack dough (high hydration) and I'm under the impression that they need a vessel to sit in. I really want to make an oval loaf.
Edit: I just realized how silly that sounds needing a pan to make an oval loaf. I'm on my second cup of coffee so my brain is starting to function again.
I looked again at Lodge, seems like they have grills and pizza stones too. I think that may be the way to go since we want to eventually get a grill in the future. Thanks!
While I appreciate how well the DO works, there are days I have difficulty lifting it in/out of the oven. I have been using a graniteware roaster with a lot of success. Others on TFL have/currently do as well. And some use glass vs pyrex type casserole or roasters/dishes with a lid.
I found my roasters (2 sizes) at a local thrift store, which made for an inexpensive experiment ($5 used, each). Not sure if they are the older quality you referred to? I have done several things to create additional steam inside. The one that worked best is using a couple of rolled up old cotton washcloths and pouring a little boiling water on them just before putting the dough in. My roaster has enough room and the dough doesn't touch the cloths. Oh and I use parchment paper to lift the dough in/out. Tip, don't get the cloths dripping wet, and use tongs to remove when you get to the "remove the lid" part. I did have one bake where the cloth I used started to char a bit, oops. No harm to the bread and it was an old one that had achieved rag status. The kitchen police would have been upset, lol. Not sure if it had a little polyester in it, got too hot and dry or what. It graduated to full on rag status, good for cleaning window screens or similar projects. 😁
Mary
I just baked a loaf on a cast iron grill with a steel bowl on top. My loaf was a little big for the size bowl I used, and a bit baked onto the bowl. But overall that worked well. Our local thrift store has steel bowls for half the cost of a new one, I may get a bigger one to play with....
Mary
That's a good idea! I bought a large stainless steel bowl, maybe I can find a cast iron griddle. We have a small griddle for the stove stop, but It has little rubber feet unfortunately. I did see someone modify a hotel pan lid with a handle, and I thought, why not just use a deeper pan with lid. So now I'll search for a hotel pan to use as a lid and a cast iron griddle. I think that might be better. But I did see those perforated plates that go in the bottom of the hotel pan so I thought that might be a good way to get steam in there without having to jerry-rig it too much (I have a gas oven). They are called "false bottoms."
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/54587/stainless-steel-steam-table-pan-accessories.html?filter=type:false-bottoms
or trays. :)
I found the shiny refective pans too bright refecting heat away from my baking bread. Just a head's up as I prefer dark non-shiny pans and covers. I like crust color.
I just looked those up. Holy cow, they are like a mirror. I'm not planning on solar cooking! I'll definitely stay away from the ultra shiny stuff. The ones I saw aren't nearly that shiny thankfully.
Have you tried "seasoning" them just like steel or cast iron? The baked on oil should darken them quite a bit...
I plan on doing the same thing with a baking stone and a deep pan as cover.
Does anyone have a recommendation for the pan/cover? I’ve been searching online for sometime but most roasting pan or hotel pans is not intended to go above 450F in oven.
Thanks,
Kelvin
Hotel pans are typically stainless steel, and will do fine in an oven . If you are not familiar with the sizing, it can be confusing, but here is a good explanation - https://www.webstaurantstore.com/guide/556/food-pan-buying-guide.html
Once you determine the right size, you then need to choose a depth , based on how tall your loaf will be, and make sure you don't get a perforated one - sounds silly, but there are so many options, it is hard to keep them all straight.
Thanks Barry.
I did read that stainless steel can sustain pretty high temperature. I was confused by a manufacturer on another stainless steel product who told me 450F was the max it was made for.
Anyhoo, appreciate the link. I’ll look into this.
Kelvin
to borrow one first if you can and try it out. See if you get the results you want. It is good to have only "just enough" space between the risen loaf and the pan.
Good tip. I almost got a super large one. Now just ordered a "just big enough" pan :)