Circles vs. moulds tins
If you like to bake or make quiches, pies etc. you must surely have one or more pie pans at home, in different diameters and perhaps materials.
They are indispensable, without them there is no way to make beautiful pies, and they work very well, but you have another option, instead of moulds, that is pie rings.
They are indispensable, without them there is no way to make beautiful pies, and they work very well, but you have another option, instead of moulds, that is pie rings.
17 K 5/5 (15 reviews)
Keywords for this post:PiesTartsCircleMouldsTipsLast modified on: October 2nd 2020
Circles vs. moulds tins
As their name indicates, the circles are simple circles, made of stainless steel, which exist in different diameters, but unlike a mould, a circle has no bottom (yes, this is not an extraordinary statement) so it must be placed on a baking sheet, protected by a sheet of baking paper, or silicone (silpat), before baking.
Before continuing, just 2 words of baker's vocabulary :
-"rolled-out pastry": Piece of dough that is rolled out and used to line a mould/circle
-"line (with pastry)": Action of lining a mould/circle with an abaisse
So on one side we have the classic pie tin, which you put in the oven directly or on a baking sheet, and on the other side the circle, which must be placed on a baking sheet.
Which is better?
The circle has many advantages:- The baking is better, more regular and faster because of the absence of a bottom, more direct contact of the pastry with the heat
- Unmoulding is very easy, you just have to remove the circle from the top and then slide the tart into its serving dish (breaking a tart when taking it out of its mould is a very very frustrating moment!)
- It is very easy to clean, dishwasher safe
- If you go for it carefully, you'll get very elegant and professional right-angled pie edges
- It costs less than a mould
As you can see, it's almost all advantages, that's why pro pastry chefs all use circles, and you can do the same at home.
There is only one case, where the mould is preferable, and that is if you are making a quiche, or a tart with a lot of cooking juice, like a tomato tart, or a fresh plum or blackberry tart for example, in these cases having a mould (rather than a circle) that will retain the cooking juice even if you have a leak in your pastry case is very appreciable.
I didn't go into detail, but as for the moulds, there are circles for tarts, of all sizes in fact, and square or rectangular shapes, the pastry cooks speak then rather of "frames".
Another quite recent option, the circles are said to be micro-perforated, i.e. pierced with hundreds of small holes that improve the baking process by distributing the heat better.
As always for the material, do not hesitate to put the price, it is an investment on the duration, and to go to provide you in the stores for professionals rather than in the ray kitchen of the great surfaces.
To sum up: Try the circles instead of the pie tins, once you get the hang of it, you will appreciate the difference.
Lasts posts
A tablet holder
Perhaps you too cook by consulting your recipe on a tablet or phone, and putting it down on your worktop? It's practical, but not the best solution. Here's a look at how you can make an inexpensive, almost universal stand.March 14th 20261,2175
Pre-calibrated pastry dough
When making pie dough (shortbread, shortcrust, sweet...), it's always a good idea to make a lot at once, and then divide it into pieces, which you can freeze. I've already pointed out the mistake not to make, which is to form a ball before freezing. It's difficult to roll out afterwards because...March 9th 20261,1585
Butter vs. grease
We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?December 1st 20253,2125
Getting out of the fridge early
Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?November 24th 20252,1315
Who's making the croissants?
When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...November 23th 20251,949
Other pages you may also like
The art of the charlotte
In cooking, a charlotte is a delicious moulded dessert, with biscuits around the outside that have been soaked in a flavoured syrup, filled with a light cream or mousse. The charlotte is left to set in the fridge before being turned out and served in slices. It is very light and a lovely sweet...February 27th 201347 K4.3
Egg yolks and caster sugar
We often come across recipes where we need to mix egg yolks with caster sugar. This would appear to be a very ordinary and simple thing to do but, be warned, these two ingredients can behave oddly together.February 15th 201885 K 24.3
Salt and yeast
Let's take a look at an old baker's legend: You may have already read that somewhere in a recipe that uses baker's yeast(bread, pastries, leavened doughs in general) it is often specified "Don't put salt in contact with the yeast, you'll kill it (the yeast)"! Well, that's a belief, and there are...March 15th 201975 K4.3
How to break eggs properly?
It is a very common gesture in pastry, bakery and of course cooking: breaking eggs to incorporate them into a recipe. You have eggs (which professionals call "shell eggs" to differentiate them from liquid eggs in cartons or cans), and you must break them to incorporate the contents into your...June 26th 202116 K4.8
Sorrel and its cooking
Do you like sorrel? This delicious plant with its beautiful bright green leaves, whose subtle acidity goes very well with many other things, including in particular cream, to form with salmon the emblematic dish of the 70's, "Salmon with sorrel" on which was built the beginning of the fame of the...March 19th 202213 K5
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.