Home cooks love cast iron cookware for so many reasons. Flavor-wise, a well-seasoned cast iron skillet will infuse incredible flavor into your meats and vegetables. For even heating, it’d be hard to find something that browns a piece of chicken as well as a superiorly made cast iron grill. And aesthetically, nothing says rustic-chic as much as a vintage cast iron skillet that’s been in the family for years.
BUY IT: $19.90 (orig. $29.85); amazon.com
If you’re an experienced baker, you know how frustrating it can be to pour your heart and soul into making, kneading, and shaping bread, only to have it ruined by uneven baking from a non-durable tin. That’s why this Lodge pan should be in any loaf-loving home: It won’t bend or warp at high temperatures, and its pre-seasoned surface offers the perfect crispy crust. That means you can start using it the moment it arrives at your door without the need to oil it beforehand.
Since the loaf pan has two durable handles, it’s so much easier to maneuver in and out of hot ovens. One reviewer said it simply “makes perfect bread,” adding that Lodge’s pan offers ideal heat distribution. As long as you keep the pan seasoned, it’s “a cinch to clean,” according to the same reviewer—just approach it the same way you’d clean cast iron skillets.
Another shopper wrote that they “couldn’t believe how beautiful” their sourdough sandwich bread came out thanks to this loaf pan, and added that it had “absolutely no sticking.” It “didn’t even look like it needed washing” because of how little bread was stuck to the loaf pan’s surface, they explained.
