Knock on "cooking paper" & Praise of Parchment Paper

For the record, I use parchment *way* past the "recommended" temperatures.  As in, the 500 degree range on a stone.  It works flawlessly.  About the only thing "bad that happens is the edges of the paper brown a bit and turn extremely brittle.

I have used parchment past 700 degrees when doing Pizza. It is a one time use because the paper turns brittle everywhere except under the pizza. I don't ever remember having anything sticking to parchment. I have never even looked to see if there was a recommended temperature.

I use it for all of my bread, cookie and candy making. I've tried a couple different types, rolled and stacked, and I prefer the item that KA sells. Yes, it's pricey, but its the splurge I allow myself. I alway purchase the 100 sheet item that comes packaged in a heavy cardboard cylinder.

The paper holds up well for mulitiple batch bakes for cookies, however, when using it for my free form bread baking it begins to burn and crumble at the edges. I've never had a baked item stick to it, but if working with wet dough (shaping)it will stick to your item. That being said, I think parchment is not something viable for bench work, but rather, for baking.

;)

:)

I used to bake without parchment paper, and often my baked goods had a very dark bottom. I accepted this as the norm, often changing a recipe's bake temp and time I try to work around the problem. For clarification, I was using metal pans (Farberware, which is pretty decent for the price) and sometimes lining it with foil for easy removal/cleanup. No parchment, no silpat.

Then I bought silicone mat (not a silpat, because I was at walmart and they only carried wilson's silicone mats) and though I liked how it kept stuff from burning, it also required adjusting cooking times. You had to cook lots of stuff longer because of it. Not such an annoyance, I'd been doing it for years. But when it started to get air bubbles beneath it when I baked cookies, I gave up. The thing was awesome when it came to kneading bread, or rolling out those very cookies, but it sucked to bake on unless the whole mat was covered.

In desperation, I turned to parchment paper. My cookies were either burnt or deformed, and I was sick of it. I'd heard of parchment paper before, but always poo-pooed it as a waste of money. It's a piece of paper, what could it really do? But I tried it once, loved it, and have never gone back. Oh, I don't line everything with it. I've since gotten Pyrex (which I love) and therefore often don't need anything, and for those things like lasagna which leave the pan a wreck, I still use foil. But for baking bread, cookies, and brownies, I wouldn't ever go without it anymore.

Basic reasons for using: doesn't stick to food or pans, keeps the bottoms/sides from burning, doesn't lose its shape like silicone mats can, can be cut to fit just about anything, and is disposable. I don't have to clean it, and I don't feel bad about throwing it away because as a paper product, it's biodegradable. Not to mention, it's not exactly gonna break the bank. I bought my last roll of Reynolds Parchment Paper at walmart for $3 and change, and it lasts me at least a month. And I use it at least 3 times a week, usually twice that.

I quite often use a large or medium Airbake sheet. No sticking issues - they still look fairly new, they are so easy to clean up (Bon Ami). This was my solution many years ago to bottom-burnt cookies, and it has translated over to freeform loaves of bread with ease.

- Keith

I buy regular ol' parchment paper from the grocery store and never have any problems with sticking. It gets very brown on the areas outside the dough but no scorching, smoke or anything alarming at all. I have used it on a baking stone at 500 degrees, as someone else above also does.  Maybe the cheaper stuff is just fine?