Myra's Kitchen Blog » Parchment Paper

I consider parchment one of the most indispensible supplies in the kitchen. I line my half sheet (18×13-inch) aluminum baking sheets every time I use them. These industry standard-sized trays are what I became used to working in professional kitchens. I do like the way aluminum distributes heat, but I don’t bake directly on the aluminum trays since I don’t want to run the risk of aluminum leaching out into my food. Aluminum trays, in combination with a protective layer of parchment paper, work exceptionally well.

Half Sheet Tray Lined with Parchment Paper

The type of parchment available in grocery store is sold in rolls, and it is a nuisance: the unwieldly sheets torn from the roll never fit quite right or lie flat on a baking sheet. After getting used to snug, flat, professional parchment paper, I find the rolls nothing less than frustrating. After a bit of fumbling around and testing, I found a few good sources of professional parchment paper.

There are two types of finishes on parchment paper that make it non stick: silicon and quilon.

Some say they prefer silicon for its ability to withstand higher temperatures and longer cooking times than paper coated with quilon. They also maintain that silicon is a safer coating than quilon.

Quilon-coated is the industry standard, since it’s substantially less pricey than the silicon-coated. It’s the type used in every establishment that I’ve ever worked in, and it’s the only one most professional cooks even know about. I’ve found it to be more than sufficient for all my culinary needs, from roasting vegetables to rolling pastry crusts. I’ve even cooked pizza on parchment at a temperature of 500˚F. Though the paper turns dark at such high heat, it still does the job perfectly well.

You can purchase the sheets in 100 half sheets or 1,000 full sheets (16 x 24). Full sheets fit a large standard-sized baking sheet, which is twice the size of the half sheet pans. (You get a whopping 2,000 sheets when you halve them.)

Or course, you save a lot of money buying the 1000 sheets. On the down side, you have to have room to store the box, or enough people to share it with.

I purchased both silicon-coated and quilon-coated to compare. I now have enough parchment to last a very long time. The parchment was delivered quickly, within three days.

I found it difficult to differentiate between the two varieties of coating. Henceforth, unless I were convinced otherwise, I would probably go with the quilon-coated.

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