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Rather than cooking spray, I often use the French method of buttering & flouring. It's not fool-proof, but it works well in my loaf pan. I do cut parchment for the bottom of my round pan. It's so upsetting to make the batter for a delicious cake or cornbread only to have it stick!
I learned the flour/butter method from my mom. I prefer the cooking spray that has flour in it.
Love my Silpats. I got tired of trying to fit the parchment paper to various pans, and the curling made it difficult to manage. Plus I know I won't run out midway through anything.
I'm an avid baker. Right now, I usually use parchment sheets to line my rectangle cookie sheets and baking pans. I can get 3-5 uses before I have to trash them.
I was thinking of switching to baking mats like Silpat or a similar brand.
Any thoughts on baking mats vs parchment?
I am not sure because there haven’t actually been studies testing silicone’s reactions with food under heat. Also the cheaper mats, made with lower quality silicone coatings contain fillers that may be hazardous. For sure baking with silicone above 428F is not recommended, because it will start to melt.
Its also recommended to bake the sheet/silicon ware 4 hrs in a 400F oven BEFORE the first use, to get rid of the (possible) outgas vapors. The kitchen window should be open during the process.
The best baking products are also the most expensive, like "MOUL'FLEX" - the top choice of pastry chefs worldwide. (Available by Williams-Sonoma). However the bakeware "Sockerkaka" from Ikea was also tested as safe and very good.
If you decide to stick with the parchment paper - remember that parchment is made with bleached white and unbleached brown paper. Since the bleached paper might contain toxic dioxin, it’s better to use the unbleached parchment paper if you use it. Some parchment papers are coated with silicone as well.
I like parchment much better than silicone mats. My silicone mats get used for chocolate dipped fruit and fondant work, not for baking. I buy a big roll of parchment at Sam's and it lasts long enough that I never think about the expense of the parchment when baking.
I have a Silpat but prefer parchment, mostly because there's no clean-up. It's such a small thing, but I hate washing dishes/utensils anyhow. Parchment is easily thrown away. However, I think my cookies get less brown on the bottom when I use the Silpat - someone said they have more insulation, which is probably why. My cookies on parchment aren't burned at all, they just get a little darker on the bottom than they do on the Silpat.
I had a silicone pad and it got grungy pretty fast. I followed manufacturer's recommendations for cleaning and it still stayed dirty. I don't know if I was doing something wrong but I just got fed up with it being so dirty and used looking that I just gave it up and went back to parchment.
Another vote for parchment. Silpat mats brown the bottoms of my cookies too much, which is just the opposite of MisfitBanana mentioned. Go figure! But I use my Silpat mats all the time for rolling out dough because nothing sticks to them. I put one on the bottom and one on the top.
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