Tiger Crown Shokupan Bread Mold 2395

Basically this mold works as expected. However, you will notice that this is not made from *stainless* steel. There's a thin layer of aluminium that protects the underlaying steel, but as it is, aluminium does react with acids. Fats do contain acids. It won't take long and you will notice black spots on the inner side of the mold. These spots do get more and more over time. Therefore, it is a bad idea to grease the mold. But this is required to prevent the bread from sticking inside the form. The vicious circle goes on. To prevent the mold from going rusty where the aluminium layer has been damaged, you need grease. But with grease, you add more acids on the aluminium surface. Therefore, the stains become more and bigger. And this happens quite quickly. I wish it was stainless steel. But it is just ordinary oxidizing steel covered with aluminium. Considering the price of this mold, this is quite a let down. It still works, but at some point you may start to taste the iron within the shokupan. Also, you don't want aluminium in your bread. So this may also be a threat to your health. I hope I can find a Japanese mold made from real stainless steel with a non-sticky layer that is not aluminium. Ceramic or PTFE would be much wiser. As much as I would like to recommend this mold, the summary doesn't allow me to do so. It's really a double sided sword, but the highly reactive aluminium is definitely a deal breaker for me.