How to Season and Maintain Your Cast Iron Loaf Pan with Lid

If you are a bread lover, a cast iron loaf pan with lid is an indispensable implement for your kitchen. This oven style is not only ideal for even baking of a nicely done bread loaf, but it also makes possible a well-crisped crust and a soft moist middle section. Aside from that, to avoid missing out on the benefits of cast iron bread pan, it is vital to season and preserve it nicely. This blog post is meant to guide how to season and maintain so that you enjoy your oven-baked breads for over a decade.

Why is Seasoning Important?

The process of seasoning cast iron cookware is just as important as watching what you eat. Seasoning prevents rust and makes it non-stick. During the seasoning of a cast iron loaf pan, you make up a layer of oil or fat liquid that adheres to the pan's surface. This oil coat protects from water seeping inside and prevents food from sticking, thus leading to less wastage. In addition, seasoning is a good way to enhance the taste of your bread, especially the more you use the pan. The pan will develop naturally a patina the more you use it.

How to Season Your Cast Iron Loaf Pan

Seasoning your rustic cast iron loaf pan is a simple affair that can be done with just a few basic tools and materials. Here's what you'll need:

• Your 10-inch cast iron loaf pan with lid

• Vegetable oil or shortening in a melted form.
• Napkins or a clean cloth
• An oven

To season your pan, follow these steps:

1. Set the temperature of your oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. Wash the loaf pan under running warm tap water, add liquid dish soap, and dry it properly
3. It's best to simply rub vegetable oil or shortening onto the pan's entire surface using a piece of kitchen paper or a clean cloth.
4. Place a hot pan with the lid inside the preheated oven. Then bake it for 1 hour.
5. Remove the pan from the oven, wait for a while and then let it cool down inside.

Once your pan has cooled, you may serve it immediately. When the skillet is almost black and has a good shine, it tells that seasoning is almost finished. This will only occur if the process has been effective.

Maintaining Your Cast Iron Loaf Pan

That explains why your cast iron loaf pan is very fragile and requires you to clean it up after every usage so as to keep it spick and span. After each use, follow these steps:

1. Let the pan be cooled as much as possible before rinsing.
2. Clean off the pan with warm water and a soft bristle brush or sponge. Around grease, it is not ideal to use soap as that will cause the skillet to lose seasoning.
3. Gently pat the pan dry with a dry towel or paper towels, be careful not to scratch it.
4. Take a piece of paper towel or clean cloth and apply a thin layer of vegetable and shortening oil or melt it to the pan.
5. Unless you need the exposed parts of the pan, please do store it in a dry place.

Conclusion

A cast iron loaf pan with a cover (the cover is well taken care of and seasoned well) is a very useful piece of equipment in the arsenal of a bread baker or a person who is very concerned with baking bread (a 'bread maven' or any other fan of bread). By scorching your pan and practicing handling it well, your baking skills will improve so that you will be able to make the resulting loaf taste great all the time.

At Crucible Cookware, we offer a wide range of cast iron cooking essentials, including bread pans and other cast iron cookware items, that help you make lip-smacking dishes at home.