Parchment paper is a true workhorse in the kitchen. It’s a boon for nonstick cooking and baking, keeps cheese fresh longer, and skilled bakers use it for everything from rolling dough to writing on cakes. But nothing in life is perfect, and parchment paper comes with one recurring irritation: Most of us buy it in…
Flattening Parchment Paper in Pans
Lining a pan with parchment paper is a convenient alternative to greasing and flouring. Even with nonstick baking pans, you can’t reliably count on your cakes or brownies coming out cleanly, but parchment ensures a perfect release every time. The issue is that parchment is relatively stiff, making it tricky to get it to lie neatly in the bottom and up the sides of your pans (especially round ones, where creasing the corners isn’t an option).
The solution? Crumple that sheet of parchment tightly in your hands. Yes, you read that right — take a smooth, pristine sheet of parchment paper and make it look like a well-used tissue after the final, emotional moments of a tear-jerking movie. When you straighten it out, you’ll find that it’s suddenly pliable enough to conform to your pan’s shape and stay where it’s put. Problem solved.
The Water Hack for Parchment Paper
The second hack for parchment works on its own, or as a follow-up step to crumpling. It’s just as easy: Lightly mist your pan with water, or moisten your crumpled ball of parchment under the tap before straightening it out. Parchment isn’t super-absorbent, but enough water gets into its fibers to soften and loosen them, making it much more manageable.
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On a sheet pan, the moistened parchment will lie perfectly flat. In round or square pans, the slightly damp parchment will fit more snugly into the corners. When your cakes come out of the oven, they will have the correct pan shape, free from the odd dimples and creases that stiff parchment can cause.
