The one unassuming product bakers are obsessed with
We literally can’t live without it.
Date
March 26, 2026
I travel to King Arthur headquarters in Vermont about four times a year, and there’s one baking product I bring back from our store every time. It’s not our high-quality vanilla or fragrant cinnamon (though I make room for those on occasion too). It’s our lie-flat parchment paper, a product so indispensable that I don’t think I could bake without it.
Every time I use a sheet pan — to make cookies, layer cakes, roasted vegetables, toasted nuts, and more — I slip on a sheet of parchment paper. It’s a move so seamless that it’s instinctual. And therein lies the beauty of this parchment paper: Because it is already cut-to-size and flat as a pancake, I don’t even have to think about using it. And when it comes time to clean up? I just toss it in the trash and give the pan a quick swipe with a damp paper towel. I haven’t soaked or scrubbed my sheet pans in years.
Okay, you might be thinking. But I can get a roll of parchment paper at literally any grocery store. But stop right there — rolled parchment, while functionally the same, does not offer the same user experience. In short: It sucks. The edges never tear cleanly. Your parchment is bound to be a little too long or a little too short to fit on your pan, making things awkward. And, most importantly, it doesn’t lie flat!
“You know what I can't stand?” says Recipe Development and Test Kitchen Manager Sarah Jampel. “When parchment curls on a baking sheet or in a baking pan and interferes with how my cookies spread and my cakes bake and brown.” Baking Ambassador Martin Philip goes a step further: “There is a rung in hell where they only have parchment rolls,” he asserts. “And no matter how many times you invert them, they curl.”
They aren’t the only ones who feel passionately about this. When I asked the King Arthur Editorial Team chat if anyone had strong opinions about parchment paper, I instantly received a flood of messages. “Our parchment has to be one of the best tools in my kitchen!” enthused Associate Editor Tatiana Bautista. “If I'm not using the full size to line a pan, it's also great for other tasks, like cutting into smaller strips to line the bottom of a layer cake to catch messy frosting drips while decorating.”
Digital Engagement Specialist Grace Saadi noted the versatility of lie-flat parchment as well. “In particular, one of my personal favorite uses is making cornets. You can make at least four paper piping bags in a pinch with just one sheet of parchment.” Plus flat, sheet pan-sized parchment is easier to cut into smaller sizes for additional pans, like 9" x 13" pan, an 8" x 8" square pan, or an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan. (Though if you’re baking in round cake pans, I highly recommend stocking your pantry with round parchment paper. Because the only thing worse than dealing with rolled parchment is having to cut out a perfect circle to fit your cake pans.)
And then there’s the convenience. “Are your pans stored in a roll? NO. Then why should your parchment be?” chimed in Community Development Coordinator Kat Mayerovitch. “Since sheet pans are already stored flat, it makes so much sense for parchment to be stored that way as well. It's a better use of space in your kitchen, and with a small kitchen like mine, every inch of storage space counts.”
Trust us: If there’s one thing you can do to make your baking life better, it’s investing in lie-flat parchment paper. And if you don’t believe us, take it from customer Margaret F. in Petaluma, California, who put things succinctly in her product review: “The Best. Period.”
Cover photo by Danielle Sykes; food styling by Liz Neily.
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