Why We Love Nordic Ware’s Sheet Pan Lids

An excessive amount of recipes require defending the contents of a rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap, whether or not or to not shelter its contents for fridge storage, to keep up them from drying out at room temperature, or to maneuver them from one place to a unique. Plastic wrap works incredible in a pinch, but it surely absolutely has fairly just a few drawbacks. One, it’s finicky to get the pan tightly coated, a minimal of with out using adequate to cocoon the pan completely, which is wasteful. Two, the plastic wrap will contact the very best of the meals till you go to good lengths to lift it off of the pan—moreover powerful enterprise. (There are fairly just a few instances the place some clearance between the quilt and the meals is necessary, paying homage to when the pan incorporates bread dough or a cake with a layer of fastidiously utilized frosting.) Three, you could’t stack one thing on excessive of the pan with out compressing its contents, which suggests it will take up further precise property throughout the fridge (or in transport). Lastly, plastic wrap is disposable and unable to be recycled. I don’t find out about you, nonetheless I try to steer clear of using it wherever potential, notably in big parts. Beeswax meals wraps are good, nonetheless most aren’t massive sufficient for half sheet pans.

Fortunately, there’s a larger technique: Nordic Ware sheet pan lids. The laborious plastic, snap-on lid retains meals protected in opposition to every publicity to the climate and compression from above. The lid fits snugly adequate to guard from drafts (or something, for that matter), one factor I’ve examined extensively by using them to hold bread doughs and balls of pizza dough for cold proofing.

Bread doughs are notoriously quick to dry out when uncovered to air, and Nordic Ware lids cease this absolutely. That acknowledged, the lid will not be 100% airtight or waterproof, so it is not going to keep up liquids from leaking out do it’s important to tip the pan, but it surely absolutely’s tight adequate to do the job in practically one other event. The lid might be the similar type and dimension as a result of the pan, so it might be nested into or beneath the pan when not in use. And it’s very sturdy, which suggests you could comfortably stack a variety of items of sheet pans atop one another, or set the pan beneath a stack of various objects with out concern of breaking it or compressing the meals.

Whereas I (as a bread baker) primarily use these lidded pans to hold dough for proofing bread, pizza, and flatbread dough balls throughout the fridge, after you will have one, totally different makes use of transform obvious. It is best to use them for shielding marinating meats; transporting a sheet of brownies, sheet cake, or pan pizza to a celebration (or storing it on the counter for later consumption); or freezing a single layer of berries sooner than transferring to a storage bag.

Nordic Ware moreover makes quarter sheet pans with lids, which I like on account of they’re further conveniently sized for fridge storage and additional transportable. As well as they make two deeper pans that match with the similar lids, a sheet cake pan with a lid that’s twice as deep as a half sheet (two-and-a-half inches versus 1-inch), and a 9- x 13-inch cake pan with a lid, a 2.5-inch deep mannequin of 1 / 4 sheet. I sometimes use these deeper ones for proofing bread doughs, on account of they provide ample room for the dough to broaden as a result of it proofs. They’re moreover good for holding one other meals in need of extra precise property.

The lids and the pans are moreover purchased individually, should you will wish to buy one or the alternative to complete a set. One important issue to note: Till you already private Nordic Ware sheet or cake pans, you could want to buy them with the lids to make sure they match collectively snugly. Baking sheets—even ones that stack collectively neatly, are otherwise shaped—and the Nordic Ware lids acquired’t match on every pan (they match on a few, nonetheless not all, of my totally different baking sheets).

When you will have stacks of sheet pans already, it might be a hassle to place cash into new ones to amass matching lids, nonetheless they’re reasonably priced. And the good news is that Nordic sheets pans are superb of their very personal correct. They’re solidly constructed, which suggests they don’t warp all through use, even at extreme oven temperatures, heat evenly, and are constructed to ultimate for years of use. (They nabbed our excessive suggestion after we examined seven half-sheet pans.)

FAQs

What is the good cookie sheet lid?

Pleasant actuality: Cookie sheets aren’t the similar as sheet pans. So Nordic Ware’s sheet pan lids is not going to work with low-profile cookie sheets. The good news is that half sheet pans work good for baking cookies: You needn’t buy a separate set of pans.

What sizes do sheet pan lids can be found?

The Nordic Ware sheet pan lids can be found two sizes: a 9- by 13-inch model that matches on quarter sheet pans, and a 13- by 18-inch model that covers a half sheet.

Can you clear sheet pan lids throughout the dishwasher?

No, you can’t clear these lids throughout the dishwasher. Nordic Ware recommends hand-washing these lids solely.

Are you able to set sheet pan lids throughout the oven?

Sadly not. Like all plastic meals storage containers, the Nordic Ware sheet pan lids mustn’t oven-safe.

Why We’re the Consultants

• Andrew Janjigian is a Extreme Eats contributor and a former long-time check out put together dinner at America’s Test Kitchen.
• Andrew’s been instructing baking and pizza classes for larger than 10 years. He’s authored many Extreme Eats evaluations and recipes, along with an evaluation of the Le Creuset bread oven and a comparability of baking steels and stones.