Aside from “preheat oven to [x] degrees,” the most common instruction you’ll find in baking recipes is “grease and flour an [x]-sized pan.” This can either involve a fair amount of messiness–greasy hands, crumpled butter wrappers, etc.–or it can be quick and easy.
The best way to get an evenly-greased and -floured pan is to use a trifold approach: spray the pan with cooking spray (non-aerosol, of course), sprinkle it with flour, and then employ the tap-and-turn method. This entails tilting the pan at a 45-degree angle, then tapping it gently against the countertop to get the flour to slide down the surface. Give the pan a quarter-turn and repeat until the flour has cascaded down all the sides. You’ll know you need to add more flour if it isn’t covering the pan.
Flour the edges the same way–tilt the pan so that the flour is resting on the edge, then tap and turn until the entire inside is floury. Hold the pan upside down over the sink to get rid of any excess flour. After the first or second time you do the tap-and-turn, you’ll know what angle the pan needs to be to avoid getting any poufs of flour on your countertop. Then you can set the prepared pan aside and start baking!
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