To Coat or Not to Coat

Coatings on bakeware are only good for one thing: easier cleaning. Professional bakeware usually is usually shiny and uncoated, but there is also dark-coated bakeware on the market today. The shiny uncoated bakeware helps to reflect heat around your baked goods, which creates light golden browning. Dark, coated bakeware tends to absorb heat in the pan itself, which is why the bottoms of cookies are often blackened while the tops are not even browning. The coating on coated bakeware inevitably wears off, and some can actually release fumes.