Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is a type of low-carbon steel (iron alloy) that contains a mix of metals including chromium and often nickel. Stainless steel is not a very good conductor of heat. Yet it is durable, easy to clean, moderately priced, and basically inert; that is, it does not react with food. Stainless steel also has a light-reflective surface that makes it easy to view food as it cooks.

To improve its heat conductivity, lower-quality stainless-steel cookware is manufactured to a thin gauge. However, it is difficult to roll stainless steel (or any metal) to a thin gauge evenly. Because of this, thin-gauge stainless cookware has hot spots where food is likely to burn. While thin-gauge stainless cookware is inexpensive, it is not a good choice for the bakeshop.