On this dreary and humid summer morning, I am debating making tin can bread. I tried making flower pot bread a few weeks ago, with disastrous results. (Think kitchen filling with acrid smells and evacuating the house for a short period of time. Why I am admitting this is beyond me.) So when I came across a recipe for soup can bread, I was a little leery, yet intrigued. Bread the shape of a soup can? How cute! Tin cans baking in my oven? Uh-oh.
I did some research, and one person pointed out that most cans are lined with bisphenol-A, that horrible chemical stuff that lined all the baby bottles and misc. baby things that everyone is now banning. Do I really want to re-use a can that could have this terrible stuff in it, not to mention re-using a can that isn’t supposed to be re-used for any purpose, anyway?
I’m obviously still on the fence on this one - maybe if I use BPA-free cans? (Eden Organic Beans are supposedly BPA free) Or if I bake the bread, but don’t actually eat it?
What would you do?
on Aug 10th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I’ve made bread in coffee cans, the small ones, not the extra big ones. The kids loved it having round sandwiches and pieces of toast. Everything turned out great. I say give it a whirl
on Sep 18th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
[...] debating the merits of baking bread in a tin can and the safety issues that this might bring up, a new idea emerged: bread in a jar. Why not use up [...]
on Sep 29th, 2008 at 1:26 am
I’m a little skeptical about using cans for baking bread. Although the chemical might be in a teeny quantity, I’d still stick to a loaf tin.
on Oct 24th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I this ok to do: what if you line the tin can with tin foil so the bread does not touch the actual tin can? Will the heat still cause the BPA to seap through the bread or even through the air?
on Oct 24th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Coco ~ You and me both, better safe than sorry.
Mimi ~ Well, the can’s still treated or coated with chemicals inside and out, and I don’t think the cans are made to withstand that kind of heat or even be re-used, so my opinion is that it’s probably still not safe.
on Nov 8th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
My mom baked Date Nut Bread every year for the holidays in tin cans. It is a family tradition, she always said the cans should be gold on the inside. Unfortunately I have lost her collection of cans, she used the same cans year after year. I plan on trying to start a new collection of cans. I think I will try preheating the empty cans first to “season” them and make sure they hold up to the heat.
on Dec 1st, 2008 at 12:22 pm
My Mom always baked her date nut bread in cans. Does anyone have a recipe for this date nut bread. It seemed to be a lot firmer that the other recipes I have tried.
on Dec 23rd, 2008 at 6:40 am
Date Nut Bread
5 #2 cans
2 cups of white sugar
2 cups of boiling water
2 tablespoons butter or oleo
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 cups of flour
1 cup dates, chopped fine
1 cup raisins
1 cup raw prunes, cut fine
1 cup pecans
Bring water to a boil, add fruit, salt, sugar, baking soda, and butter, let stand until luke warm. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring after adding each egg. Add flour and nuts, stir well and bake in well greased cans at 375° until well done. May also be baked in a loaf pan.
on Jul 19th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Well, I hope the BPA thing hasn’t stopped you from having fun with this. As with most front page / fad health warnings, the dangers of BPA exposure have been grossly exaggerated. Unless you’re literally eating the entire can - and, in fact, dozens of cans EVERY DAY for the rest of your life - you have nothing to worry about from BPA. Same goes for all the water bottles, it’s just a clever excuse to get people to drop $25 on a Sigg status icon. Anyway, soup can bread is great stuff, especially when you dig out the innards and make a “stuffed sandwich” out of it.
on Sep 8th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Brian doesn’t know what he’s talking about. BPA is toxic at extremely low levels, far below the levels deemed to be ’safe’ by the government.
Source: http://www.ewg.org/book/export/html/20928
on Jan 9th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
I used soup Tin cans for making a citron quick bread for years until I lost the recipe. However, as long as you use the cans that are not lined with the new white coating they will bake with no foreign residues whatsoever and the kids loved them. They were just right for toasting in the am for breakfast.
I have a friend that makes Panetonne Bread every year in the older type of coffee cans. It is delicious and she is 90 and has been doing this since she was in her 40’s so I guess if there were any thing in those cans that was transferrable to humans but the product itself we would have heard about it by now.
Hundreds of Italian cooks use them for holiday breads. All I need is someone to send me a recipe for the citron quick bread that I lost. I do remember they baked up quickly ( 25 or 30 min) and that I only filled the pan about 2/3 full so it wouldn’t go over the top.