Best Oven Bakeware Set in Egypt: Aluminum, Granite, Pyrex, or Stainless?

Aluminum, Granite, Pyrex, or Stainless Steel?

• Aluminum: The cheapest and lightest, heats up quickly and evenly, making it the best for roasting like potato and chicken trays. Its downside is that food can stick, and you shouldn't store acidic food in it.
• Granite: Aluminum coated with a non-stick layer. Cleaning is easier and less oil is needed, but the coating can be scratched by knives and steel wool.
• Pyrex (Glass): Heats up slower and retains heat longer, lets you see the food cooking, and looks great served at the table. However, it breaks if exposed to sudden temperature changes.
• Stainless Steel: Lasts for years with no coating to peel off, but more expensive and heavier, and food sticks to it if you don't grease it well.

Size and Depth to Fit Your Oven and Family

Before anything else, measure your oven from the inside in width and depth, and leave about 2 to 3 cm on each side so hot air can circulate around the pan. A pan that presses against the walls burns on the edges and stays raw in the middle. As a rough rule of thumb: a 25 cm pan for 2 or 3 people, a 30 cm pan for a family of 4 to 5, and 35 to 40 cm for gatherings. Rectangular pans utilize oven space better, while round ones are for basbousa, feteer, and konafa.

Depth is more important than you think. A potato tray with sauce and chicken with broth needs a high rim of about 5 to 7 cm so the sauce doesn't boil over onto the oven floor, while basbousa and flat cakes do better with a low rim so the top browns evenly. A lid is useful for baked rice and meat that needs to cook slowly in steam, and if the set doesn't have a lid, aluminum foil does the job. If you're hosting a big gathering once a year, disposable aluminum trays might suffice instead of buying a 40 cm pan that will just sit in the cupboard.

Most homes use 2 or 3 pans all the time: a large rectangular one for potatoes and chicken, a medium one for bechamel or rice, and a round one for desserts. A 3-piece set of the same material is usually more economical than buying each pan separately, and then you can add Pyrex or stainless steel depending on what you cook most.

Every Dish and Its Pan

• Potato and Chicken Tray: Aluminum or granite, because they brown faster.
• Bechamel Pasta and Moussaka: Pyrex or deep granite, with Pyrex if you're serving it in the same dish.
• Basbousa and Hareesa: Round or rectangular aluminum pan, greased well with ghee.
• Kahk, Biscuits, and Ghorayeba: Flat baking sheet without a high rim, so heat reaches every part evenly. The baking sheet that comes with the oven is usually the most suitable size, and put parchment paper on it.

Pyrex and Care: How to Make Your Pan Last

Glass doesn't break from the heat itself; it breaks from sudden changes. Preheat the oven first and then put the pan in, and if it was in the fridge, let it come to room temperature first. Never put it on the stovetop or direct fire, and don't put it hot on a wet countertop or under the tap. If it has a crack or a broken piece, don't put it in the oven again.

• Granite: Wooden or silicone spoons, no cutting inside the pan with a knife, and wash with a soft sponge.
• Aluminum: Wash and dry immediately, and don't leave tomato sauce or vinegar in it.
• Burnt food in any pan: Hot water and baking soda, let it sit for half an hour before scrubbing.

Check Before You Buy

• Check if the listed dimensions include the handles or are from the inside. A buyer of a 31x20 cm Pyrex dish said the actual space is about 24.5x19 cm.
• Read the material column, not just the product name: many pans are called granite and the material is listed as something else.
• "4-piece set" sometimes means 3 pans and a lid, so read the set's contents.
• Check who the seller is, and inspect the glass and coating as soon as the order arrives.