News

Customers who have bought silicone baking mat from us can apply for ANF/NSF. Annual cost is about USD1,800.00

In most professional bakeries, you`ll often see the pastry chef using parchment paper or silicone baking mats. There are lots of reasons why. Easier cleanup. Nonstick surfaces. Less wear and tear on baking sheets and pans. But why choose one over the other? Here`s the scoop on which baking booster is best: Parchment Paper Vs Silicone Baking Mat. Parchment Paper Parchment paper is a cellulose-based paper that`s used as a disposable nonstick surface. It`s convenient to purchase and relatively inexpensive (about $10 per roll.) What`s also great about parchment paper is its ability to fit any pan you please. Just roll it out and cut it to the size you need. Because parchment paper is meant to be disposable, it isn`t the most eco-friendly option and sometimes getting the rolled paper to lay flat can be frustrating. There are options to buy parchment paper in flat sheets, or even specific pan sizes (8", 9" 10", etc.), but the cost per sheet is often higher than just using the rolled product. Parchment paper is best for goods that you want crispy and dry on the edges. It soaks up extra fat in baked goods and ensures the perfect outer crust. Parchment is also a great option if you`re a bulk baker, because you can just throw-and-go for pan after pan of pastries. Silicone Baking Mat Silicone baking mats (also sold under the brand name Silimat) are flexible, nonstick mats made out of fiberglass and food grade silicone. They`re reusable, which is a big plus for those looking to lessen their environmental impact. Also, because Silimat are nonstick, you won`t need to grease them or otherwise prep them before use. And when we say nonstick, we really mean it. Baked-on cheese and hardened candy can easily be wiped off which makes them great for gooey products and candy making. Silicone baking mats are slightly sticky, so they stay in place on the baking tray once you set them down. They are a bit more costly than parchment paper in the short-term, as you may need to buy several sizes so that they fit into pans exactly. Depending on the brand, you can find silicone baking mats from $10 – $30 dollars each. With silicone baking mats, you must be careful what types of utensils you use on top of them. Sharp tools such as knives and pizza cutters can slice through the top layer exposing the fiberglass inside. Silimat can be used at oven temperatures up to 480°F, but should not be used under the broiler or directly on the oven surface. Depending on use and care, a silicone baking mat can be used for at least a year before they need to be replaced. The Verdict You really can`t go wrong with either option. Both are great solutions that cut down on added grease and cleanup time – and both can be used for more than just baking. It really comes down to personal preference with a few exceptions: With super sticky recipes like hard candies or pralines, silicone baking mats are your best bet. Using a Silimat can result in lighter colored bottoms, especially if used with an insulated cookie sheet. If you are looking for crisp, brown bottoms, parchment paper is a better choice. Brandy snaps and very thin cookies such as tuiles work best on a silicone baking mat as they could obtain a wrinkled appearance and stick if baked on parchment paper.

These days, recipes call for baking or roasting on parchment paper as if it were the default thing. Like wearing a seat belt. I gladly buckle up in the car, but this rampant use of parchment perplexes me. Baking parchment, the treated paper used for lining pans before baking or roasting, used to be hard for a home cook to find. Cake decorating stores sold it, as well as well-heeled cooking shops. Otherwise, if you were shoving food in the oven your options were plain cookie sheets, greased cookie sheets, or, if you were feeling fancy, greased foil. But why even bother with parchment or silicone mats? There are times when a naked pan does the job best, whether the task is baking cookies or roasting vegetables. So I decided to compare the three and see. Here`s a quick overview of the basics: Parchment paper PROS: Disposable. Looks really great in Instagram photos. CONS: Disposable. Can hamper browning when you want roasted items to get nice and dark and crispy. Silimat PROS: Reusable. Sturdy. Very durable, flexible. NSF, FDA, LFGB Certified. CONS: Can`t be used over 500 degrees F. You can`t cut on them (I learned this the hard way). Naked Aluminum sheet pans/baking pans/cookie sheets PROS: They`re already naked and ready to go. CONS: Baked-on food bits can get on the pans, requiring more elbow grease when you wash them. They tend to be made out of aluminum, which some people feel nervous about using in the kitchen.* Since context is important, I made a few things using a naked pan, parchment-lined pan, and Silpat-lined pan for each. Results below! Chocolate chip cookies PARCHMENT: Cookies spread a little better. For very large cutout cookies, parchment can help them release a little better. SILIMAT: Cookies that need to spread out and get flat and lacy don`t do that so well on Silimat. With basic drop cookies-the kind you form into a ball of dough and plop down on the sheet-Silimat help keep the sheets clean if you`re going to bake successive batches. Otherwise, there`s not much of an advantage using a Silimat over a naked sheet if you have good baking sheets to begin with and the recipe calls for baking the cookies on ungreased sheets. NAKED SHEET: You can get away with a lot if you do it right. Starting with chilled dough usually makes the cookies release more easily, in my opinion, as does letting the cookies rest on the sheets a few minutes before removing them with a spatula. I would be remiss to mention that with some kinds of cookies-like macaroons (coconut) and macarons (the fancypants French kind)-naked sheet is a bad idea. The Silimat kicks ass on those. TIP!: You can re-use parchment paper a few times if it`s not all gunked up. Roasted Potatoes PARCHMENT: The potatoes did fine, especially once I switched the oven from to convection from the bake settings. But they were not the crispy-on-the-edges roasted potatoes I love. SILIMAT: Ditto. NAKED SHEET: The winner! If you love crispy brown edges on potatoes and vegetables, this is the way to go. The only reason I can think where there`s an advantage to using a lined pan for this is if you are not first tossing the food in oil or fat. They`d be apt to stick, in that case. TIP!: When roasting potatoes or vegetables on a naked sheet pan, if you`re supposed to toss them around midway through the cooking time they sometimes do cling to the pan. Just let the pan rest outside of the oven for a minute or two. When you go back, more of the food is likely to release. Same goes for when you are ready to serve the food. A lot of cooking [secrets" just translate to being patient. Well, there you go-or there you don`t. The sad, ultimate truth for fans of oversimplified cooking articles is that there`s never one true magic bullet. But that`s why cooking is great! Every time you step in your kitchen, it`s your own little Choose Your Own Adventure time. You`re your own boss! And that I even have the space in my brain and options in my kitchen available to a) consider, and b) execute this experiment means my life is full of amazing magic. Someday I`ll be cooking up toxic foraged tubers in a hubcap over an open fire, wishing I had a few grains of salt to season them with, and I`ll recall the days when my choices for baking sheets were so vast, and I`ll laugh wistfully. By the way, those chrome hubcaps are a lot harder to find, buy they`re worth seeking out. The plastic ones melt. *Ahh, aluminum. When it comes to third rails of the internet, aluminum cookware falls below abortion and vaccines, but it`s nearly in league with fluoride. I`m even a little afraid to bring it up. There are two reasons people have concerns about using aluminum cookware: flavor and health. On the flavor front, cooking with acidic liquid in an aluminum vessel can impart and unpleasant metallic taste. On the health front, there are many types of aluminum cookware and many ways of using it, so it`s not reasonable to make a blanket statement that all aluminum cookware is evil and will eventually make you have Alzheimer`s. However, the idea that aluminum pans coming into contact with food that`s going into your body is disconcerting to many cooks. If that`s how you feel, I suggest you not eat out, because like 99% of all restaurants use aluminum cookware. At home, I generally eschew pots with exposed aluminum interiors. But I do I use, and love, the kind of aluminum rimmed baking sheets you`ll see in commercial kitchens. The size that`s handiest for home cooks is called a half sheet.