Art Culinaire French Ranges

I'm really starting to cook and bake with my Cluny and having a ball, I might add. But I have a question about sheet pan size and since I need to purchase now I'd love some advice regarding best size.

Many of the recipes I'm using routinely call for a standard 12 x 18 x 1" high sheet pan. I was thinking I should buy the largest size I can find to fit my ovens which seems to be 15 x 10 x 1" however I'm not sure since I'm kind of a novice baker.

What happens to a brownie recipe which calls for the half-sheet pan baked at a certain temp and time when put into two smaller sheet pans? (Is this a stupid question? hehe)

What do you all do in this case? Thanks for any help!

Did I post this in the wrong section? Doesn't anybody bake? )

Someone on here must have made the choices to convert some of the larger pans into Cluny-sized oven models. Hmmm...

Wish I had an answer for you Zolablue. And no, it's not a stupid question. I was just talking to my mother-in-law about changing cake pan sizes. After going to the trouble of making a cake from scratch, I hate to use a different size pan and not have it turn out. Maybe Keith Snow, our expert resident chef on the forum, will have an answer for you. Sorry I couldn't be of some help.

Thanks, Sandiego. Hopefully someone will weigh in and if I find out before then I'll be sure and let you know.

I was originally thinking the largest pan closest in size to the 12 x 18 would be best and then have a small portion left over to bake in a smaller container but then thought maybe sticking with half that size meaning 12 x 9 and baking two of them would be smarter.

I guess I'll just have to experiment. I did notice baking on different shelves made a difference and I had to switch the pans part way through. No big deal for me to do that but just part of the learning curve and not unlike many ranges I'm sure. I remember one of Martha's shows not too long ago where she baked cookies and had to turn her cookie sheet part way through because the back of her oven baked much faster than the front so I'm sure that is where the "art" part of baking and cooking comes from.

Hey Zola--we discussed this a little bit at gardenweb, but I wanted to add something here. Maybe I don't bake much stuff that is fussy enough to worry about? For brownies or lasagna, I just use a slightly smaller pan and adjust the baking time. The only time I've ever converted a recipe was for Rose Levy Berenbaum's Rosemary Focaccia. The recipe calls for a half-sheet pan. I used a pan slightly smaller the first time I made it, and thought it was thicker than I wanted. So the next time, I made 1.5 times the recipe and divided it between two pans. Perfect! But that's the only time I've ever gone to that much trouble.

I'm making her semolina bread tonight, but haven't decided yet what I'm serving with it...oh, and I have to call the butcher and special-order veal shanks for my husband's birthday dinner Sunday night--he wants osso bucco! (I have a lot of fun with my Lacanche...can you tell? )

Anna - Thank you SO MUCH! I am so excited to know that the half-sheet size pan DOES work. I have to get those purchased but I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know it.

I'm just such a newbie baker. I am dying to start baking bread. I'm thinking of bagettes. I love to cook but didn't realize how much fun I was going to have baking. I've been giving stuff to the neighbors and they're begging for more so that is really a lot of fun.

My hubby also had a birthday (yesterday) and wouldn't you know the carpenters finally made it back here to work so I was unable to cook dinner or even bake him a cake. I'm not complaining however because as you know we're now at 8+ months and still not finished so was great to get some more work done.

I will happily make a very special dinner this weekend and bake my first cake in the Lacanche. I just LOVE that range!

Btw, please let me know how your osso bucco turns out. I'm dying to make that dish as well. Thanks again for all your help on the technical stuff - I REALLY appreciate it!

Hey Zola--just wanted to let you know that the osso buco turned out fabulous! I used the recipe from the Martha Stewart Living cookbook (only I omitted the porcini mushrooms because I was serving it with wild mushroom risotto). DH took some leftovers to work to reheat in the microwave, and someone popped into his office and wanted to know what smelled so good.

Awesome, Anna! I must get that recipe. I don't have a single Martha cookbook. (I did just buy the new Barefoot in Paris as you know I love Ina...hehe.)

I also want to make risotto if you can believe I have never made that one either! I love stirring things so it sounds like a fun dish.

The Martha book is okay--don't rush out and buy it or anything. BTW, I was at a book sale the other day and saw a whole pile of Ina Garten books and immediately thought of you!

Zola - Like you mentioned, I've found experimenting is the best thing. I'm finding the differences between the racks AND the temperature can be equally important. I love to bake too...would be interested how your bread turns out when you start baking it! I also have been meaning to dive into that adventure...