I have a standard white whole wheat/spelt bread recipe that I’ve been using for months for our weekly bread. I’ve always baked it as a single loaf, in a glass loaf pan greased with olive oil, for 47 minutes (tented for the last 7 minutes) at 350 degrees. Until my last two bakes, it always came out perfectly and released from the pan without any sticking whatsoever. Now, suddenly, it is cementing itself to the glass pan during baking and will not come out without the loaf being completely destroyed in the process. I haven’t changed anything about the recipe, the baking temperature, or the ferments. It just suddenly stopped releasing from the pan.
I have had a similar problem with a focaccia recipe, which included lots of olive oil, but it still bonded with the surface of my pan. All I could think of was that I had damaged the non-stick coating on the pan so it no longer worked. It almost seemed like the olive oil was absorbed into the loaf, leaving no greasy protection. Not sure if different brands of olive oil are better or worse for protecting from sticking. Very frustrating, for sure!
Have you tried using a solid fat for greasing the pan? Or dusting the bottom of the pan with cornmeal or bran? Or perhaps lining the bottom of the pan with parchment paper? I have also read that some people swear by using a liquid vegetable lecithin to grease their pans.
Hope this helps!
It’s a glass pan, so it never had a non-stick coating. I just don’t understand why it released fine one bake and then the next it was locked in there.
It seems to be sticking more to the sides than the bottom. I can’t seem to get a knife or spatula in there without it going into the loaf rather than between the loaf and the pan. I’ll try parchment paper on the next loaf.