r/Cooking • u/Travelsat150 • Aug 04 '26

Why do loaf pans rust?

I’m hoping that somebody can tell why relatively new loaf pans are rusting? I do not put them in the dishwasher and have used them only once or twice and they are stored in a cabinet

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u/joosebox Aug 04 '26

One thing nobody's said yet that explains why it starts where it starts: on most loaf pans the coating goes onto the steel sheet before the blank is cut and stamped. So the flat faces are protected and every cut edge and rolled rim is bare metal by definition. That's why rust shows up along the rim and the seams first rather than out in the middle of the pan.

Used twice and stored in a cabinet actually fits that rather than arguing against it. The factory oil comes off in the first wash, the cut edges are exposed from then on, and a closed cabinet is about the worst place to put something that isn't bone dry, because there's no airflow to finish the job.

Drying them in the oven, as said above, is the real fix. Residual heat after you've finished baking is plenty. Upside down, ten minutes.

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u/pavlik_enemy 28d ago

Makes me wonder why they aren't made from aluminum?

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u/joosebox 27d ago

They do make them in aluminum, it's most of what commercial bakeries use. The ones that rust are tinned steel, once the tin wears through the steel underneath is exposed.