The Complete Handbook of Parchment Paper

Chapter 1: Understanding Parchment Paper

Parchment paper appears to be a simple product: a roll of paper that you tear off and put on a baking sheet. But that simple description hides a highly engineered material that is designed to withstand temperatures far beyond what ordinary paper can handle, while providing a non-stick surface to more complex than a simple coating of wax. To use it effectively, and to know why one brand costs three times as much as another, you need to understand what it is made of and how that composition acts under heat, moisture, and fat. That is the purpose of this chapter: to ground you in the physical reality of the material itself, so you can make informed decisions later in this handbook.

At its core, parchment paper is a cellulose-based paper that has been processed to give it two distinct properties that ordinary paper does not have: high heat resistance and a non-stick surface. The first property comes from how the paper is made. In a standard manufacturing process, a sheet of high-quality kraft pulp is passed through a bath of sulfuric acid. This treatment partially dissolves and gelatinizes the cellulose fibers in the paper. The result is a dense, unified sheet that is far more resistant to heat, oil, and water than untreated paper. This process, known as pergamynization or parchmentization, is the historical origin of the name, since it was developed in the 1800s as a cheaper alternative to animal-skin parchment for writing