 The Challenger bread pan is a bit of an investment, but there's no doubt that it's incredible for home baking and it's definitely my new favorite bread pan. But it may not be for everyone, so today I'm going to walk through the pros and cons of this pan and talk about how it compares with the competition so that you can decide whether or not it's right for you. So let's get into it. My name is Charlie and on this channel I explore the basic principles of cooking so that we can all become better home cooks. Now full disclosure, I did reach out to Challenger a few weeks ago to see if they'd be willing to send this pan over and sure enough they were nice enough to send it to me at no cost. I really just wanted to try it out because it seemed like a promising product that most people watching this channel would be interested in. And of course keep in mind that I would never recommend anything that I don't think my viewers would truly enjoy and benefit from. Now for those that aren't familiar with the Challenger pan, it's a relatively newer product on the market within the last few years and it's basically designed to be the ultimate pan for home bread baking. So it's one of the few pans out there designed by bread bakers for bread bakers and there's clearly a lot of thought put into its design, from the material used, to the size and shape, to the detailing on the surface. But it's also not a cheap pan so it was selling for around $225 at the time of filming this video compared to about $60 for the Lodge Combo Cooker which is the pan that I've been recommending up until this point. So really my main goal with this review is to determine whether or not the Challenger pan is worth the price compared to the competition. And as I've already mentioned, I do personally think it's worth it for the dedicated home baker but let's get into the specifics so that you can decide for yourself. So the biggest issue that any baking vessel needs to solve is trapping steam in your oven during the beginning of baking. Because that steam is essential for achieving a nice caramelized crust on your loaf and for allowing the loaf to expand freely during the beginning of baking which leads to a better overall rise on your loaf. So both the Combo Cooker and the Challenger pan solve this issue very well because they're made of a heavy cast iron which does a great job of trapping in the steam that gets released from your loaves as they bake. And I prefer both of these over a typical Dutch oven because with these you can bake with the lid side down so it's really easy to place the loaves in without burning your hands or degassing the dough. But that's about where the similarities end because the Challenger pan was designed specifically for bread baking so it has several other advantages that the Lodge Combo Cooker doesn't. And the first which in my opinion is the biggest advantage being the size. The Challenger pan has interior dimensions of 11.5 by 9 inches which makes it a lot more versatile in terms of the types of bread you can bake in it. So personally I love using this pan to bake demi baguettes and since it does such a great job of trapping in steam the baguettes turn out much better than they would using any other complex steam setup and it's obviously a lot easier this way too. And the pan is also big enough to bake two small to medium sized loaves at one time. So using any of the sourdough bread recipes on this channel two loaves will fit in there perfectly. And for reference in this footage here I use my same day sourdough bread recipe so these loaves are about 750 grams each. The only thing to consider is that when you remove the lid during baking you may sometimes need to push the loaves apart to make sure they aren't touching and you may even want to flip them around halfway through to really make sure that every inch gets evenly browned although I usually don't bother with that. Even so those slight inconveniences are far outweighed in my opinion by the time savings of being able to bake two loaves at once and I've actually found that the quality of my loaves is quite a bit better when I bake two at once probably because the pan becomes even more saturated with steam that way. And of course the larger pan size also allows you to bake bigger loaves in general. So with the Lodge Combo Cooker the biggest loaf you can bake is probably about 1000 to 1200 grams whereas with the Challenger Pan you can bake loaves up to about double that size. So personally I never actually bake loaves that big so I'm much more interested in the fact that I can bake two loaves at once and the fact that I can bake baguettes but if you're someone who does like to bake bigger loaves then this pan will allow you to do that and it will probably allow you to achieve better results than any other method out there. And even outside of the standard boules, batards, and baguettes this pan is pretty versatile so you can use it to bake things like focaccia or deep dish pizza, dinner rolls, or really anything else you'd normally bake in a cast iron pan or a baking dish. And of course since cast iron has such a great ability to retain heat you end up with a really nice crisp crust on anything you bake in it. And while I prefer to reserve my Challenger Pan exclusively for bread baking you can use it as a normal Dutch oven too if you like since both the top and bottom of the pan lay flat for use on a stove top. Now as I've mentioned I really think the main advantage of this pan is the form factor but Challenger also mentions a few other design elements on their website that makes this pan ideal for bread baking. Those factors being a better ability to trap heat while baking due to the better seal and heavier lid, better heat distribution due to the shape of the pan, better heat retention due to the larger overall size, and the pan has nice large handles on top for safely removing the lid during baking. Now with all of that said I did perform some direct comparisons between the Challenger Pan and the Lodge Combo Cooker where I baked a single small loaf in each using my same day sourdough bread recipe and if I'm being completely honest I really couldn't see any discernible difference between the two. So there very well may be a difference if I were to perform more trials but I think the point is that if you only ever bake one small loaf at a time improving your technique will make a much bigger difference than improving your equipment will. However the Challenger Pan has produced some of the best bread I've baked so I think the main difference is come when you're baking larger loaves or baking multiple loaves at once because in that case you have more steam being produced and you have less empty space within the pan so you have a higher concentration of steam overall which leads to a better oven spring. So really I think the only disadvantage of this pan is the price so if you only ever bake single small loaves then I don't think you can necessarily justify spending this much when the Lodge Combo Cooker is available for quite a bit cheaper. But if you ever see yourself baking baguettes or other larger loaves, baking multiple loaves at once or you just want a versatile sort of do it all type pan then I think the Challenger Pan is a great choice. And setting the price aside it's probably the best overall pan on the market today for home bread baking. So for me the Challenger Pan is definitely worth it because baguettes are my favorite type of bread to make and when I do bake full loaves I pretty much always make two at a time. And I've always been someone who doesn't mind spending a bit of extra money to get the best product possible especially when it comes to cooking equipment like this that'll pretty much last forever. So if I didn't already have one of these I think it'd pretty much be a no-brainer for me. But with that said the Lodge Combo Cooker is still a great pan and it's perfect for the entry level baker who just wants to start baking great bread without spending too much money. So I'll have both pans linked in the description below and if you purchase through my links I will receive a small commission of course at no extra cost to you. So just keep that in mind if you do decide to buy them. And if you missed my last video where I discussed everything you need to know in order to master the basic bread making process be sure to click that video in the bottom right corner of the screen. Thanks for watching and I'll see you all in the next one.