What to use instead of cling film to wrap pastry

Question

I'm trying to stay away from single use plastics for the environment. The only kitchen thing I have not yet managed to find a substitute for is wrapping pastry in cling film to let it rest in the fridge before rolling and baking. What can I use instead that doesn't let the pastry dry out while resting? I'm interested in a substitute that's either biodegradable or ideally reusable.

I use [BeesWrap](https://www.beeswrap.com/) for just about everything, including pastry wrap, excepting meat. It's made of cotton with beeswax, jojoba oil, and tree resin. It's washable, reusable, and a compostable alternative to plastic wrap. — bishop, May 01 '19 at 18:06
@bishop Bees Wrap claims to be sustainable but it’s really not: The producer suggests replacing it once per year. For the same price you get a multi-year supply of cling film, and the environmental impact of that is almost certainly less than that of buying new Bees Wrap every year (cotton in particular has a *terrible* eco footprint). It’s clever but deceptive marketing, nothing more. (It also plain doesn’t work great but that’s another issue.) — Konrad Rudolph, May 02 '19 at 10:51
Can you clarify how long you typically leave it in the fridge? If it is only in the range of an hour the answers might be different from if it is two days. — Spagirl, May 02 '19 at 13:06
@KonradRudolph It also seems kind of gross and too time-consuming. I don't want to wash my wrap. Sorry, bishop. Plastic wrap is perfect for so many uses, and there's no good reason to change to something inferior in every way. — user91988, May 02 '19 at 14:06
@KonradRudolph I don't dispute that cotton, particularly _organic_ cotton, has a large footprint. I do, however, think it's unfair to claim Bees Wrap is "almost certainly" more impactful than cling wrap. Where's your data? — bishop, May 02 '19 at 14:08
@only_pro That’s a subjective judgement. Personally I have no issue washing and reusing crockery, why should wrap be any different? (I own BeesWrap because I bought into the idea, and found it to perform poorly in practice.) — Konrad Rudolph, May 02 '19 at 14:08
@KonradRudolph Right, it's a subjective judgment. We're talking about preference here—there's no one right answer. — user91988, May 02 '19 at 14:09
@bishop My data is in the fact that it’s substantially more expensive: Price is often a fairly good proxy for resource usage (because, minus markup, that’s what the producer has to pay). Of course it’s not perfect but given our prior knowledge of the cost of the raw material involved I’d be **very** surprised if I was wrong here. — Konrad Rudolph, May 02 '19 at 14:10
@only_pro The major argument against cling film is oceanic plastic pollution. It's got nothing to do with its otherwise obvious convenience. — J..., May 02 '19 at 17:07
@KonradRudolph The problem with your statement is that you don't give enough attention to the markup. For that reason, price alone is a poor indicator of resource usage. Take fountain drinks for example. You can pay up to $3 for them somewhere, but it costs pennies to make and for the place you're buying it from to buy. Nowadays it's even worse with naiive shoppers looking to go green, and sellers seem to be taking full advantage of that. And this doesn't get into the debate of the lesser of two evils, etc. — Jorgomli, May 02 '19 at 21:05
@Jorgomli Sure, that can create variation in the results, but the claim "price is a fairly good proxy for resource usage" is still a highly valid claim IMHO - the effect you describe fit nicely with the modifyer used. **fairly good** — Stian, May 03 '19 at 08:31
One thing that complicates trying to use price-point as a proxy for resource usage is _production/manufacturing_ costs (over and above resource costs). Given the length of time cling-film manufacturers have had, and the scale of production, it's a fairly safe bet that they've streamlined and cut manufacturing costs to the bone. For something like BeesWrap, with a much smaller market share, and made on a much smaller scale, the production costs are likely to play a much larger part of the eventual price-point. — TripeHound, May 03 '19 at 09:02
@Jorgomli You cherry-picked a single sentence from my comment. As mentioned I’m well aware of markup but *given what we know* about the resources in question, there’s no reason to doubt that taking out markup would change the answer. TripleHound’s comment is more on point — except that we’ve been making wax paper and wax cloth for even longer than cling film. — Konrad Rudolph, May 03 '19 at 09:55
Price as a proxy for resource usage is a blatant lie from a environment point of view. Usually, the cheapest option for an enterprise is the one that moves most of it's cost as an externality, not the one that uses less resources. Like coal, cheap pesticides, mass antibiotics on cattle, etc etc. It does not reduce resource usage, it only reduces internal cost to the business. — Oxy, May 03 '19 at 12:55
Another alternative, like beeswrap, is one I just found called [food wrap](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/food-wrap-reusable-cling-wrap). It's apparently a silicone-based, reusable wrap. Haven't tried it myself, of course, as I said I just found it... but if you're looking for a 1-1 replacement product rather than a different alternative or method, I thought it might be useful to check out. — Megha, May 05 '19 at 01:28

Stian · Answer 1 · 2019-05-01T22:09:02.543

55

It is less useful than what you think

Frame challenge incoming...

Cling film is very light and made especially for such purposes. The environmental damage is extremely low - which limits what alternatives you can choose. Most alternatives (including those already mentioned in the other answers) will be so much more resource demanding to make, dispose or recycle for it to be worth it. Baking paper, while extremely useful - is full of silicones, so don't put it in the "paper" bin... and it is more resource demanding to make. Teflon, cloth, etc - same deal!

Aluminium foil, for instance. 75% of all Aluminium refined and made is still in use. Because of the extremely friendly "recyclability" of aluminium, it is a very good material. Just not for aluminium foil, it is rarely recycled. People just throw it in the trash. We destroy a valuable resource.

Cling film, on the other hand is dirt cheap to make and can safely be incinerated. If you worry about polluting the sea - I'd see if there are any alternatives to landfilling your waste in your community. As for carbon emissions - Walk once to the store instead of driving, and you'll be in the green even if you consider a life time supply of cling film.

Note: Some cling films are made with PVC, I'd consider switching to the less clingy, but better overall alternative LDPE. PVC contains chlorides and while the environmental impact is still low, if you go for LDPE or similar it goes to negligible. Check the box it came in to find which you have

edited May 01 '19 at 22:09

answered May 01 '19 at 12:33

Stian

734
4
8

9

Great answer. I’d like to add that domestic use of cling film is likely a tiny fraction of the overall use (in restaurants, but also in other industry). Stopping the use of cling film at home has zero impact or, more likely, a net *negative* impact since the substitute is likely worse, even if it claims to be “sustainable” (e.g. Bee’s Wrap — seems great on paper, works badly in reality). – Konrad Rudolph May 01 '19 at 12:36
3

Sorry, but this doesn't answer the question, which is about alternatives to clingfilm, not the actual impact. – GdD May 01 '19 at 12:49
1

Agree that it is not a direct answer, but still is definitely food for consideration, kind of alternative thinking about the alternatives. Makes me wonder, what was the true environmental costs when compared to true cellophane. It is biodegradable, but how about the impact of the chemicals to make it and treatments it take to make is less water permeable? Really a different question, but worth considering as well. – dlb May 01 '19 at 13:33
16

@GdD That is why I introduced it with the "frame challenge". The result of https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/263661/does-stack-exchange-allow-for-answers-which-question-the-validity-or-stance-of-t seems like yes, it is allowed. As my pre post 131 reputation would indicate, I am not sure if it is common here on SA. – Stian May 01 '19 at 14:06
Nice answer. Can you give a few pointers as to why LDPE would be "better overall"? – Stephan Kolassa May 01 '19 at 21:13
@Stephankolassa It is mainly the environmental aspect. Edited. – Stian May 01 '19 at 22:11
14

@GdD A well-supported frame challenge to assumptions in an OP's question is *always* a valid answer. It still might not be the answer the OP wants, but it's relevant information nonetheless. – Graham May 01 '19 at 23:21
4

I wasn't aware of the concept @Graham, I'll keep it in mind for the future! – GdD May 02 '19 at 07:23
1

@GdD It absolutely answers the question. The question is "What can I use instead of cling wrap that's better for the environment?" and this answer says "Nothing, because XYZ." – David Richerby May 02 '19 at 15:42
Aluminum is massively recycled because there is a very strong economic reason to do so. Recycling aluminum is extremely cheap. Producing aluminum from ore is extremely expensive and very energy intensive. In my area, city recycling practically begs people for their aluminum foil - billboards on busses and everything. They'll take greasy, messy, food covered aluminum foil happily. I suspect the capture rate for kitchen foil will probably increase significantly in the coming years. – J... May 02 '19 at 17:11
The OP is clearly environmentally conscious. Citing as a "con" for aluminum foil that people usually dispose of it incorrectly is... disingenuous at least. It is a clearly more sustainable solution than single use plastic under the simple premise that it's well disposed of, which environment conscious people will do, which in turn is part of the premise of the question, not a willful supposition. – Oxy May 03 '19 at 12:52
1

@Oxy disingenuous? It isn't people that dispose of it incorrectly, it is the foundries that do not want it as raw material because multiple reasons. Pray tell me, how would you dispose of aluminium foil - environment conciously? Sneak into a foundry at night, cackle maniacly while dumping your used foil into the furnaces? If you return it at a collection site, they will likely just landfill it. It is clearly not an environmentally concious solution, it is not even concious. – Stian May 03 '19 at 13:01
@StianYttervik Fair point. Though local foundry malpractice is not a universal "con" point, but plastic wrapper is universally uneconomical to recycle and burned/dumped. Garbage services acting in bad faith can undo even the most environmental friendly actions. They could burn things on open fires, dump biodegradable mass on aquifers/rivers uncontrolled, etc. There's no point in arguing what they can do wrong, but what you can do right. – Oxy May 03 '19 at 13:17
@Oxy They are not acting in bad faith. My point (as a chemist) is that we (as all of us - humans) are taking a fantastic material (aluminium) and using it in a way which disincentivizes it's recycling. We shouldn't do that - and we should at least not damn **all plastic products** - some of them are actually the best overall solution. In my post, I have tried to argue that in this case cling film is one of those products. It is like replacing paper cups with ceramic mugs at coffee bars - probably not the most sustainable solution, **even if it looks like it**. – Stian May 03 '19 at 13:38

score 38 · Answer 2 · answered May 01 '19 at 16:42

38

Use Tupperware, or a plate over a bowl. Since those items are reusable the environmental impact will be less so long as you keep using them. You can get Tupperware that is mostly glass too. Lots of places do this with their dough. All that moisture will still be in there as the dough rises or rests. As long as it's airtight it should work.

Alternatively you can put a damp tea towel over a bowl. This will allow the pastry dough to breath while maintaining moisture. Make sure the towel doesn't dry out though. If it does, your dough will too. Just add some more water to the towel when it starts to get dry.

Bakers use some variation of tupperware and damp towels all the time. Plate over a bowl won't work as well, but it should still work.

answered May 01 '19 at 16:42

Why isn't this the #1 voted answer? If there is any downside to this approach compared to the others, someone please comment. – bobuhito May 02 '19 at 04:30
2

Downsides that I know, admittedly minor, but some applications you may want better air control that a tight wrap may provide, and in some cases ever pressure which you may not be able to duplicate with a container. Some synthetics plastic and rubberized containers also are porous and especially with use can tend to retain some amounts of smells, flavors and contaminants so some like to avoid them. In general, up/down votes do not get explained, but in this case is seems that many appreciate the challenge to the basic assumptions of the question. – dlb May 02 '19 at 13:46
9

+1 - pastry was made long before cling film or fridges was developed, techniques from that time are still perfectly valid – Mołot May 02 '19 at 14:43
1

Use your standard ceramic bowl if you're worried about the container picking up smells. Since your bowl is a multi-purpose instrument, you should get enough use out of it to justify the greater production cost to create a bowl vs cling film. – user3067860 May 02 '19 at 14:57
@bobuhito In addition to what dlb said, the plate over a bowl method lets more air into your dough which will dry it out more. You also need enough space to store a bowl or tupperware and you need to guess at the right size for said bowl since these containers won't shift with your dough the same way plastic wrap will if you just wrap your dough in that. You also need to think more about your release strategy with these containers, since if they're square you could end up with more dough stuck to your container than you want, though this isn't that likely. – May 02 '19 at 15:21
2

@Steve 'think about your release strategy'? It may be you are overthinking this. I put pastry in a bowl with a plate over it. I have a variety of bowls in my home, and my standard pastry batch is always the same size, so not a great deal of risk of fatal error there.My release strategy is that I take the plate of, reach into the bowl, take hold of the pastry and remove it. This has never failed me yet. I appreciate that the bowl and plate method wouldn't work for a sheet of laminated pastry. – Spagirl May 02 '19 at 16:14
3

Given the negligible environmental impact of clingfilm, I'd wager this approach is *less* environmentally friendly, due to the additional dishes needing to be washed. Even washed by hand that means additional water, power to heat said water, and dish soap. – Mayube May 02 '19 at 19:20
3

@Skidsdev Dishes washed by dishwasher can be washed with less water. If you flour your bowl and develop the gluten in your breads well enough, then you really shouldn't have that much left over to wash. You might be able to get away with a towel. Clingfilm adds up. This approach won't add up as much because the bulk of the impact, the production, only occurs once. I'll wager that washing a bowl with a lid every time you use it for 50 years has less impact than using 50 years worth of clingfilm, especially if you have an environmentally savvy dishwasher machine. – May 02 '19 at 19:26
3

I'll take that wager @Steve - any day. Water is energetically very expensive, it has to be procured, cleaned, heated, used, cleaned again, disposed. Sorry but I think you are wrong on this one... – Stian May 02 '19 at 23:34
1

@StianYttervik That's fine. I'll still go with the water to clean bowls being less expensive so long as you don't clean things one at a time being less expensive than 50 years worth of plastic wrap. You need to wash like 2 extra dishes because of this, and you're washing dishes anyway because you probably don't eat out of plastic wrap. – May 03 '19 at 13:58
2

@StianYttervik Hence dishwasher over hand washing. – Konrad Rudolph May 04 '19 at 11:30

score 11 · Answer 3 · answered May 01 '19 at 09:11

11

You don't have to use clingfilm (cling wrap, saran wrap depending where you are in the world), there are alternatives as long as the pastry is not sticky:

Plastic bags: I reuse zippable plastic bags as many times as I can, you can wash them by turning them inside out
Baking paper: baking paper can be re-used as long as it stays clean
Aluminum foil: again this can be reused several times
A damp towel: if all you want is to let pastry rest for an hour in the fridge then a damp tea towel works pretty well. Just make sure it is damp, not wet, or you risk moisture from the towel getting into the pastry and making it too wet

answered May 01 '19 at 09:11

GdD

74,019
3
128
240

1

instead of plastic bags, there are also cloth reusable sandwich bags. They are easy to make at home if you want them. – Reed May 01 '19 at 13:19
1

I personally like plastic bags for multiple uses with the zipper giving better humidity control even than the cling wrap. I find it works especially well when making fresh pasta for instance as it creates a nice humidity dome but I like the increased breathing over cling wrap. Pasta is not pastry, but a similar use. All viable alternatives though. – dlb May 01 '19 at 13:22

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered May 02 '19 at 01:09

7

Put it in a bowl, large enough so the dough doesn't reach the top (if possible), cover it with a damp dishtowel (not wet, just damp). Voila. Totally ecological, and works better than plastic wrap because the dough can breathe.

If the towel touches the dough, you might have to scrape it off depending on the dough and the time involved, but that's not really a problem. Make sure to use a smooth towel, not a textured one which will both stick to the dough more and probably hold too much water. And use a clean one of course.

answered May 02 '19 at 01:09

2

What does "the dough can breath" mean? Pastry dough has no need to respire - it's not alive. Even yeast dough doesn't need oxygen - yeast will happily produce CO2 from sugar without any oxygen (and even if the dough is completely open to the atmosphere, essentially zero oxygen will be able to diffuse into the body of the dough). – Martin Bonner supports Monica May 02 '19 at 08:41
But the whole point is to _stop_ the dough "breathing" (i.e., exchanging gases, specifically water vapour, with its environment). What you're actually doing with the damp cloth is attempting to create an environment that's humid enough that the dough doesn't dry out much. – David Richerby May 02 '19 at 15:46
2

Think back, people have been making dough for thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of years. Plastic wrap? Existed maybe 50 years. Do you really think dough needs to be totally sealed off from the atmosphere to do well? – May 02 '19 at 16:33
2

@GeorgeM The fact that people have been doing something for thousands of years doesn't preclude the possibility that the modern way of doing it is substantially better (for whatever definition of "better"). Why do you need a truck? We've had horses and carts for thousands of years. Why do you need clean drinking water? We've needed to drink for thousands of years. – David Richerby May 02 '19 at 17:13
1

@DavidRicherby You have to feed a horse. You don't have to feed a towel. – Jim May 03 '19 at 01:00
4

@Jim I can get my horse to lie on top of my dough while it proofs. I can't get a towel to pull my cart. Wait, what are we talking about again? – David Richerby May 03 '19 at 09:15

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered May 01 '19 at 10:52

I have reusable teflon sheets for lining cake tins and baking sheets. They also work well for wrapping pastry and dough. With pastry the easiest way is to make a folded parcel with the opening side underneath on a plate or dish. They wash up by hand or in the dishwasher and also save you lots of baking parchment/greaseproof paper and some foil.

Another option is a plastic box only a little larger than the pastry. With very little exposed surface area and very little air in the box it won't dry out noticeably. The two options can be combined - ina box with a small piece of the teflon sheet (an offcut perhaps) on top

I find the teflon sheets available in my area don't take too well to repeated folding, they lose the coating along any creases. — GdD, May 02 '19 at 07:25

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered May 01 '19 at 16:23

4

I have always used wax paper to wrap pastry for the fridge. It's always worked for me.

(Note: this is not the same thing as the baking paper/parchment mentioned in other answers.)

answered May 01 '19 at 16:23

GentlePurpleRain

391
2
4

1

For pie crusts, cookie dough, and similar, that's what I use, too. (for yeast doughs, I find the wax paper can either stick to the dough and make a mess ... worst case being the wax paper tears as you're removing it, and then you have to go searching for the torn bits) – Joe May 01 '19 at 17:45
1

Wax paper is awesome but it almost certainly has a larger negative environmental impact than clingfilm. – Konrad Rudolph May 02 '19 at 10:44
1

@KonradRudolph How so? It is certainly much less harmful to wildlife, as it is digestible. I imagine it also breaks down a lot more quickly than plastic. – GentlePurpleRain May 02 '19 at 14:48
1

@GentlePurpleRain Resource cost of production. Harm to wildlife and time of breakdown are *much* less relevant and, ideally, don’t matter: General waste rubbish is incinerated, not dumped, and the pollution thus produced by cling film is probably [lower than that of burning wax paper, at least with additives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_paper#Environmental_issues): Ideally, LDPE cling film burns completely and the only waste it thus produces is CO2. Admittedly, sustainable wax paper does the same. So what remains is the difference in cost of production. – Konrad Rudolph May 02 '19 at 14:58
@KonradRudolph It seems a little unfair to compare the most-environmentally-friendly cling film option (LDPE) to the least-environmentally-friendly was paper option (with additives). Additionally, are you factoring in the *environmental* cost of production? LDPE is most often made from petroleum, and petroleum extraction and refinement has its own environmental cost, as well as being non-renewable. – GentlePurpleRain May 03 '19 at 15:32
@GentlePurpleRain It wasn’t my intention to compare them unfairly, merely to show the range. And yes, cost of production is crucially factored in (first sentence of my comment). The material cost of producing cling film is incredibly cheap. Yes, it’s non-renewable but it’s utterly negligible compared to other uses of fossil oil. My point is, people react extremely irrationally when comparing products made from plastic with those made from other material: Often plastic wins, hands down. Case in point: There’s no a priori reason to even assume that wax paper would be better than cling film. – Konrad Rudolph May 03 '19 at 15:43
1

@KonradRudolph Ok. Fair enough. I don't want to start a debate. I don't actually know that much about the environmental impacts of either; I just wanted to make sure that everything was being considered. Thanks for your input. – GentlePurpleRain May 03 '19 at 16:11

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered May 07 '19 at 21:13

If your question can be changed slightly to: What to use instead of cling film to prevent pastry dough from drying out when resting (or storing) in the refrigerator?, here is what I would do. Similar to what others have suggested, find a glass container or plastic tub with lid a little larger than the footprint of the dough. Place a ramekin (smaller than footprint of dough) in it upside down (or something else you have around your kitchen to elevate the dough), add a little water to the bottom of the container, place dough on ramekin, cover with lid. Dough should not touch water, of course, sides, or lid. This method is used by home cheesemakers to create a humid environment.

What to use instead of cling film to wrap pastry

7 Answers7

It is less useful than what you think