Whenever you decide to bake a cookie or a cake, you must have thought about whether to grease the paper or not. The question bothered most of us, but we couldn’t find the answer. But we did it!
Do you need to grease parchment paper? – As parchment paper is non-stick, there’s no compulsory requirement to grease it. However, if you still like to grease it, there’s a way you can do it. Read further to know more.
What is a Parchment Paper?
Parchment Paper is a non-stick paper that is heat resistant and coated with silicone. You’ll find cake later but parchment paper first in a baker’s kitchen. From lining baking pans to layering stacked baked goods, parchment paper comes with many uses. Apart from baking, it helps in keeping the desserts from sticking to the pan.
Quick Tip: Always store your parchment paper flat instead of rolling. Keeping it flat prevents it from rolling back to you, and that way, you don’t get irritated.
Can it be replaced?
In case you don’t have parchment paper available with you, you can use aluminum foil or waxed paper as an alternative. However, do not consider these options as all-around substitutes for parchment paper. The waxed paper is made from paraffin wax, so it is not heat resistant and can’t be used in the oven. At the same time, aluminum foil does not support non-stick features, so it cannot be used to layer your desserts.
How to grease parchment paper?
Parchment paper is made from a thin silicone coating with a non-sticky texture. So you don’t have to worry about greasing the parchment paper while baking delicious cookies. However, if you decide to grease parchment paper despite knowing the fact it’s silicone-coated, you’ll see an extra greasy texture on your cookies. We are sure that this is not what you were expecting, so make sure you are not greasing the parchment paper.
How to grease a cake pan with parchment paper?
It’s easy peasy to grease a cake pan with parchment paper. All you need to do is arrange the things and follow the steps, and you’re all set to go.
Things to arrange
- Cake Pan (size of the pan depends on the recipe you’re making).
- Butter or cooking spray
- Cooking spray with flour inside can also work.
- Parchment paper
- Flour
Steps to follow
Step 1: Greasing
Put the cake pan in front of you and start putting butter drops on the sides. Next, brush the butter all over the pan. Make sure no corner or side is left ungreased inside the pan. Everything should be covered the bottom, the sides, corners, all.
In case you have a spray, your work is reduced now. Just spray it all over the pan, and if the spray comes with the flour inside, your job gets reduced by two steps. After that, you can just jump over to the third step.
Step 2: Flouring
After greasing the pan properly, you need to start flouring the pan. Flour sticks to the grease to provide extra protection between the pan and cake. According to us, flouring can be a satisfying process but messy at the same time. You can end up spreading flour all over the slab and your clothes. So to avoid any mess, always wear an apron and work near the sink.
Take a teaspoon or tablespoon of flour (depending on the size of the pan) and hold it just above the pan. Now start shaking your hand evenly, spreading the flour all over the pan. It might not spread evenly at this time. Chill out! Just take the pan over to the sink and tilt it from front to back. Tilt it where the flour needs to be reached. Once the pan is covered evenly, gently turn it down and remove any excess flour by shaking it.
Step 3: Lining the pan
You might think, I have greased the pan now what’s the need of lining it. But, trust us with the process, you’ll be happy in the end.
The most challenging thing about lining the pan is not the lining process; it’s actually about cutting the paper. If you do not know how to cut parchment paper, you can always buy pre-cut parchment papers from the market. If you apply the trick provided by us, you can do it at home. Just grab some scissors and parchment paper, of course.
The tricks we will tell are for round cake pans as they are the most difficult to fit parchment paper in.
Trick 1
Take the parchment paper and place it just below the bottom of the pan. Take a pen and mark the border of the pan on the paper. Now take the parchment paper and cut the design you just made. Make sure you are cutting slightly smaller than the design. Voila, your parchment paper is ready to fit inside the pan.
Trick 2
If the 1st one didn’t work for you, we have a second trick for you. We call it the “Triangle trick”. Take the parchment paper, fold it in half, and start folding it in a triangle. Make as many triangles as you can; they won’t be perfect, though. Once you’re done, hold the tip of the triangle from the center of the pan. Measure it and cut any extra length you notice.
Next, open the triangle, and woohoo! Your parchment paper is ready to line.
Place the parchment paper inside the pan.
If you have a square pan
Take the parchment paper, put it inside the pan, measure it, and cut off any extra paper from two sides only. You need to keep the other two sides long so that it’s easy for you to take the bake out.
Step 4: Again grease and flour
Repeat the same steps 1 and 2 as lining needs to go through this process too.
Step 5: Enjoy your delicious items
Now it’s time for you to enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Take the baked item from the oven, gently flip it over a plate (if you’re using a round cake pan), or take the cake out with the help of extra lengths of the paper that you left earlier. Gently pull off the parchment paper. You’re all set.
Conclusion
The conclusion always comes to one thing; we hope you understand the whole process. It is your choice whether to grease the parchment paper as it already comes with a silicone coating.