Grilled cheese keep sticking to the pan!
I mean, it's pretty bad. They don't even resemble sandwiches at all.
I make it the same way I always have since childhood: butter both sides of each piece of bread, put cheese in the middle, fry it on medium in a skillet, watch it closely. But lately, they have been sticking to the pan, so I have taken to spraying Pam on the pan first. Doesn't help.
So why is it sticking??
1) Is the inside butter (or margarine) overkill? Does it weaken the bread?
2) Is it the cheese? Kraft singles were on sale & they are easier but perhaps they melt faster than the self-sliced brick cheese I had been using. Dunno, it seems like the singles are the "classic" way of doing it, and I don't how that would have anything to do with it anyway.
3) Is it the bread? DH prefers multigrain, but I'm usually the one to buy it and DD & I like the Sara Lee whole grain white. I'm thinking it's too light and spongy and the cheese leaks through and that makes it stick. Seems the most plausible to me, but I hate to switch breads or buy two kinds just for the occasional grilled cheese.
4) Maybe some combination of the above??
5) Should I not be preheating the pan? Cook it higher or lower?
6) Do I just need new pans? We got these (Circulon) from our wedding more than 3 years ago. I soooo cannot afford new pans.
TIA!
-Sara
DD- Veronica, 6/26/06 future astronaut/ princess
DS- Oliver, 5/1/09 looking spiffy in his DOCband