Things bakers know: Bake your sheet pan ... on another sheet pan
How to protect delicate bakes from overbrowned bottoms
Date
September 23, 2025
Few baking disappointments sting more than pulling a tray of cookies from the oven and realizing the bottoms are darker, tougher, and drier than you intended. The tops may look just right, but underneath, they’ve taken on too much heat.
One simple trick solves that problem: doubling up your pans. Nesting one sheet pan inside another creates insulation that shields delicate doughs and batters from harsh direct heat, and keeps bottoms tender, evenly baked, and pale golden instead of overdone.
When — and why — you should prevent overbrowned bakes
Most of the time, browning is a baker’s best friend, bringing caramelized depth of flavor, crunchy texture, and rich golden hues, all thanks to the Maillard reaction. However, excessive browning can compete with delicate flavors meant to shine — as in these Lemon Poppy Seed Scones. A crunchy bottom can interfere with the delicate structure of an otherwise tender sugar cookie, or dark color can overshadow an ethereal meringue.
In these cases — or anytime a recipe calls for a notably long bake — nesting one baking sheet inside another protects the bottoms of baked goods from browning, toughening, or over-caramelizing.
There are some recipes and baking scenarios that are particularly vulnerable to overbrowning, and thus good candidates for baking on two sheet pans. They include:
Bakes with honey, molasses, corn syrup, or brown sugar
Baked goods with a high amount of these sweeteners are especially prone to overbrowning. These are invert sugars, meaning their structure is broken down into their building blocks, monosaccharides, that react readily with amino acids to drive the Maillard reaction. For doughs or batters high in invert sugars, stack two baking sheets for protection against overbrowning.
Baked goods with leaking sugary fillings
Recipes with oozing juices and sugary fruit jams, like rugelach and thumbprint cookies, often develop scorched bottoms. Double-panning distributes heat evenly and prevents their leaked sweet fillings and bottoms from burning, as called for in this Double-Decker Filled Scones recipe.
Enriched doughs and batters
Butter adds more than flavor and richness — it supplies extra amino acids and lactose to fuel the Maillard reaction. Sweet and buttery enriched doughs, like conchas or mallorcas, are soft and fluffy, but their added butter and sugar can cause the bottoms to brown too deeply. When baked on nested sheet pans, they maintain a tender, light crumb from top to bottom.
Baking with dark pans and wonky ovens
Baked goods are at the mercy of both your pans and your oven. Dark colored sheet pans absorb more radiant heat from the oven and transfer it more aggressively to the bottoms of baked goods, leading to faster cooking and potential overbrowning before the bake is finished. If you’re working with dark pans, nesting them provides extra insulation and slows the transfer of heat to promote even baking.
Oven performance also plays a role. Many ovens conduct heat unevenly due to faulty heating elements, obstructed airflow, poorly calibrated temperature settings, or a broken thermostat. Uneven heat can cause baked goods to rise irregularly, brown inconsistently, or develop under-baked spots. With awareness of your oven’s quirks, stacking sheet pans adds extra insulation for perfectly baked, uniformly browned results.
How to adapt a recipe to double-panning
It's as simple as it sounds: Just set one rimmed baking sheet on top of another, nesting them together. Then place your baked goods on the top sheet pan as you normally would and bake at the temperature called for in the recipe. Because heat transfer is slowed, add a few extra minutes to the total bake time. Watch visual and sensory cues like golden edges, set centers, fragrant aromas, and pull your baked goods once they’ve reached perfection.
Cover photo and food styling by Liz Neily.
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