If you are someone who loves baking, then you must be having a wire cooling rack in your kitchen. It is one of the most common pieces of kitchen equipment that you find with every baker, from professionals to those who bake at home for their family and kids. Wire rack or the wire cooling rack is used for placing the baked goods once they are cooked or the hot pans. Many people think that it is not an essential step or a necessary piece of equipment for baking. But that is not true. It is very useful and helpful for the bakers.
There are many uses of having a wire cooling rack in your kitchen. Let us have a look at a few of them:
Faster cooling:
Whenever you remove the baked food from the oven, it is very important for you to allow it to cool. It takes enough time to cool, but if there is a further process to complete the dish, then you may want it to cool down faster. With the help of these wire cooling racks, you will be able to cook them more quickly. It does not take as much time as it takes when it is in the hot pan or any other tray.
For placing hot pans:
When you remove the baking pan from the oven and place on the kitchen counter, it will take a lot of time for cooling as there is no enough air circulation. But with a wired rack, air passes faster through the baking pan, and hence it does not take a lot of time for cooling. If you leave the baked food in the hot pan, there are chances of over-baking as the pan is still hot inside the pan.
Crispy food:
You love to eat crispy chicken or crispy cookies. Some food taste just yummy when they are crispy. But when you leave them on any serving plate after you remove the oven, they become sad and soft. You will not be able to enjoy the actual taste of the food when it is not in the right form. This is because there is no airflow in the serving bowl or plate. When you place the food on the wire rack, the air flows in all directions, and that will keep the food crispy and tasty. This is something that many people miss when they are making crispy dishes at home. Never cover the crispy food with the lid immediately when you take them out of the oven or the pan. The steam or the moisture that is formed when you place the lid can make the food soft.
So, these are some of the best uses of having a wire cooling rack in your kitchen.
You can have just one cooling rack in the house if you are just cooking for yourself and family. But if you are doing more than that, then it will depend on how much you bake and how frequently you do.
But just having one in the kitchen will not be helpful. You need to have the right wire rack so that you will be able to achieve the desired output from the food that you cook.
Here is what you need to consider before pick the best wire cooling rack:
- Buy at least two wire cooling racks for your kitchen. One can be used for placing the baked food, while the other rack can be used for placing the hot pans. One rack can be used for placing a number of muffins or cookies as they can be placed close to each other but without touching each other.
- Never buy a non-stick wire cooling rack as you are going to use it sometimes in the oven or broiler. There are chances that the coating will melt or chip off and get mixed with the food that you are preparing.
- Always choose a wire cooling rack that comes in a grid shape and not just parallel lines. When you use parallel wired racks, there are chances that the food will sag from the gaps. But that will not be a problem with the grid style wire cooling rack.
- Depending on what kind of food you bake, you can decide the size and the shape of the wire racks. If you are baking round cakes, then a round rack is a good choice. But if you bake a lot of things like muffins, cookies, cakes in all shapes and many other things, then a rectangular wire cooling rack will be a great choice. Now when it comes to the size of the rack, you should always choose the size that fits into the oven and bigger than the pan that you are going to use for baking.
- These wire cooling racks are made of metal and light in weight but choose a metal that is rust-free and light in weight. When you add the cookies, muffins or other baked food, it should not get heavier that you will not be able to move it from one place to another.
These wire cooling racks are one of the best and most useful equipments for baking. They allow baked food to cool faster and very effectively. There will not be a mess of over-baking with this rack in the kitchen. If you have never tried one before, then you should get one home and try it. You will be able to understand how useful it is when you start using it. Once you start using, it will become a part of your baking tools. You will not be able to work without it. It is a piece of very simple equipment that can be found at any local store, or you can even get it from the online stores at a very affordable price. Get one for your kitchen today.
