efficient pan/muffin tin greasing?

[claussen]

Hi all,

We've been doing a lot of muffin-tin baking lately, from popovers to brownie-muffins to regular muffins, and I'm getting pretty tired of greasing muffin tins the way mama used to -- with a bit of wax paper and some butter pinched out of the fridge. It's quite time consuming to get a good coating, particularly on the sides of each muffin depression.

Is there a special method or tool used in professional bakeries? A butter-sprayer? Some other <gasp> non-butter lubricating oil? A brush? Do bakers keep a butter-soaked rag handy for this?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

thanks!

claussen

[Wendy DeBord]

Welcome to The eGullet Society Claussen!

I use pan spray whenever I need to grease or butter a pan. Look at the ingredient list on the a pan spray and make sure it doesn't contain water. The sprays that contain water aren't always effective, sometimes they make things stick.

[devinf]

A healthy dose of spray vegalene (aka Pam) always does the trick.

Devin

[chefpeon]

Gosharooney!

Break out that pan spray! If I were greasin' all my muffin tins like that, my carpal tunnel problem would have been 10 times worse than it is now! Spray spray spray!

Besides the hard part ain't the greasin'!

It's the CLEANIN'!!!

[nightscotsman]

Yep, spray. It's all about the lecithin. Or use silicone baking molds (Flexipan or Silcone Flex).

Besides the hard part ain't the greasin'!

It's the CLEANIN'!!!

←

That's why you pay somebody else to do it.

[Anna N]

AND to confine the spray, spray your pans over an open dishwasher - wish I could credit this tip but it sure has made a difference to cleanup.

[DiH]

Yes, by all means spray away! But at home I use a paint brush for greasing pans. That spray sh** was outlawed at my house a long time ago... when I found that I couldn't pay anybody enough to clean it up for me.

Di

[*Deborah*]

AND to confine the spray, spray your pans over an open dishwasher - wish I could credit this tip but it sure has made a difference to cleanup.

←

Ohhhhh!

Thanks!

[yslee]

Don't you find that aerosol sprays linger in the air? It's hard to avoid inhaling the residue. I bake at home 3-4 times a week and a flavourless oil applied with fingers/paper towel works well for me (but I bet I'd be an ardent spray advocate if I baked all day, every day!).

[takomabaker]

I don't like sprays. They gum up my pans and get everywhere.

I melt and clarify my butter, then brush it in my pan or mold with a pastry brush.

[chefpeon]

That's why you pay somebody else to do it.

Ummm.....ahem....yeah.....if you can afford to! The shop I work in is so small and so tightly

budgeted it is not yet cost efficient for us to hire a full time dish dog. We're all our own

dish dogs....which means, I mess muffin pans......I clean muffin pans.......sighhhhhhh

Don't you find that aerosol sprays linger in the air? It's hard to avoid inhaling the residue.

I worked in a kitchen once where our muffin baker used a surgical mask when she sprayed

down her pans! At first we teased her, but then realized she was probably smarter than the

lot of us!

AND to confine the spray, spray your pans over an open dishwasher - wish I could credit this tip but it sure has made a difference to cleanup.

I just spray my pans flat on the table and aim the spray right into each muffin cup. I rarely have much or any overspray to clean up.

I don't like sprays. They gum up my pans and get everywhere.

True, sprays can gum up your pans, but only if they're not cleaned thoroughly after each use.

[andiesenji]

I use the Vegelene baking spray in the big gold and white can available at Smart & Final.

I have large "clean-up" cloths that are simple old sheets ripped into pieces and I spread one over the cooktop and turn on the exhaust fan, set the pans on the cloth then spray the pans and set them aside.

It takes 30 seconds for the exhaust fan to pull the overspray out of the air.

The cloth gets tossed into the kitchen laundry where everything is washed at high temp with Tide and Oxyclean, bleach if needed.

No problems

If the stuff gets burnt onto the surface of the pans simply spray them with Dawn's Power Dissolver spray, let set for 30 minutes and either place in dishwasher or rinse with hot water, swish with a brush if anything lingers.

I guarantee it will come clean.

Edited January 13, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[JanMcBaker]

I use spray also, and spray it over the kitchen sink. I also spray the whole top of the pan, at least the last time I made muffins I thought I'd try it- and it worked well. The muffin overflow didn't stick at all! And Sinclair-- thanks for that tip about checking for water in the ingredients! Now I just have to remember to keep an eye out for it when I shop.....

[Patrick S]

I just use canola spray when butter is called for, or Baker's Secret when buttering and flouring is called for. Literally 5 seconds and the pan is ready.

[andiesenji]

I use spray also, and spray it over the kitchen sink.  I also spray the whole top of the pan, at least the last time I made muffins I thought I'd try it- and it worked well.  The muffin overflow didn't stick at all!  And Sinclair-- thanks for that tip about checking for water in the ingredients!  Now I just have to remember to keep an eye out for it when I shop.....

←

Here is a tip to prevent overflow.

Get a disher like this of the correct size to fill the tin (I have them from the tiny 1 oz. size all the way up to the huge, and difficult to find 8 oz. size)

Once you get the hang of using them, the task will go much quicker and much neater and every muffin or cupcake will be the same size.

[McDuff]

I once interviewed at an old country inn where the kitchen was a cavern in the cellar, and I saw an electric drill with a round pastry brush chucked into it, next to a can of Crisco, next to a pile of muffin pans.

[zilla369]

It's not really viable for commercial work, due to the price, but at home i swear by Pam Cooking Spray with Flour. Absolutely the best thing for my really ornate Bundt Pan, for instance.

[fiftydollars]

Hi all,

We've been doing a lot of muffin-tin baking lately, from popovers to brownie-muffins to regular muffins, and I'm getting pretty tired of greasing muffin tins the way mama used to -- with a bit of wax paper and some butter pinched out of the fridge.  It's quite time consuming to get a good coating, particularly on the sides of each muffin depression.

Is there a special method or tool used in professional bakeries?  A butter-sprayer?  Some other <gasp> non-butter lubricating oil?  A brush?  Do bakers keep a butter-soaked rag handy for this? 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

thanks!

claussen

←

I line my cake pans almost the same way you prepare your muffin pans except I use parchment. I don’t like the crust that develops when I grease/flour.

But on muffins… I spray… spray… spray

Wow... I'm kind of impressed that you do that.

[Just loafing]

You can mix cooking oil with liquid lecithin (available at health food stores), about two tablespoons to a cup of oil, shake well to combine and apply with a pastry brush. (Be careful with the lecithin as it stains like fury.) You avoid problems with sprays — and with, my big thing, disposal of aerosols. I use muffin papers, but I still oil the top of the pans. I mixed my own for my small baking operation, mainly for bread pans, but couldn't find bulk lecithin in a manageable amount — the thought of dealing with a 25 kg pail of the stuff was too scary for words — and 500 ml at a time is too expensive. However, I discovered commercial pan lube which is canola oil, mineral oil and lecithin, already mixed and which works great. For cake pans, I use pan goop — cooking oil, shortening and flour combined in equal parts and spread with a pastry brush.

Cheers,

Just Loafing

[nightscotsman]

I once interviewed at an old country inn where the kitchen was a cavern in the cellar, and I saw an electric drill with a round pastry brush chucked into it, next to a can of Crisco, next to a pile of muffin pans.

←

Are you sure this was in the kitchen and not the "play room"?

[chiantiglace]

DAMM, all these threads and nobody, nobody suggested silicon?

Goodlord man, chuck out those ancient metal muffin pans and get yourself a couple of silicone demarle muffin pans.

They might be like 80 bucks a peice, but a couple full sheet pans of these baby's will increase productivty and labor by a lot. Plus super easy to clean (just a faucet and towel practically) and cools 10x faster for re-use.

[chefpeon]

Actually, nightscotsman mentioned the silicone stuff a few posts up.

I think everybody would probably ditch the old metal pans for the new silicone ones if

we could get the owners to ante up, which is tougher than you may think.

[JanMcBaker]

Here is a tip to prevent overflow.

Get a disher like this of the correct size to fill the tin (I have them from the tiny 1 oz. size all the way up to the huge, and difficult to find 8 oz. size)

Once you get the hang of using them, the task will go much quicker and much neater and every muffin or cupcake will be the same size.

←

Yes, thanks! I have used 'ice cream scoops'-- I LOVE them for cookies, and I have used them for muffins. Even used small ones to fill whites for deviled eggs! But with muffins I usually get that crown and a bit of overflow on the top of the pan-- which is fine with me! It gets a bit crisp and caramelized.... yummy!

[chiantiglace]

ha, you're right chefpeon, it's hidden above a qoute, i usually skip right to under the qoute, can't beleive i missed that.

[claussen]

Thanks for all the tips!

Last night's batch (for a brownie bake-off) I tried a new way -- melted a half-tablespoon of butter and went at it with a wadded up bit of paper towel twisted into a sort of cylinder shape. Soaked it in the butter for a second and it actually worked really well. No brush-cleaning, thank heavens.

Pretty much the only non-silicone bakeware in my kitchen (aside from springforms/pietins) are these minimuffin tins, which came from my grandmother -- hence the attachment. :)

Due to last night's success, I think I'm gonna stay away from the sprays until the landlord deals with our ventilator fan, which is non-existent -- I spend enough time scrubbing airborne grease off my kitchen walls. Incidentally, rubbing alchohol with a spray-bottle top works *wonders* on that stuff.