Talk to me about silicone bakeware...

[politicat]

My madeleine pan sprung a leak!! One of the shells has as hole in the bottom (not surprising, it's ancient and was bought in less than optimal condition at a thrift store). I'm looking at a kitchenware shop for replacement and they have silicone ones. They look like they'd be easy to extract the little buggers (and dog knows getting the cakes out of the tin is 90% of the challenge of the madeleine) so I was thinking that silicone might be a good idea.

But... I have a silicone baking mat that's okay - it doesn't like some cookies. As bakeware??

[Tab]

1. Love/Hate relationship

I've very tenuously been experimenting with the silcone stuff. I was given some silicone potholders, and although I didn't dare to use them to pick up pots of boiling water, fearing it might slip, they've been great to rest hot pans upon (like a trivet).

I then got a silicone cooking brush. ABSOLUTELY get one of these. Traditional brushes are either made of whatever good stuff they make them out of, but they shed and are a pain to clean. Or, they're made out of some nylon plasticine thing that cleans well but doesn't hold sauce/whatever for crap.

The silicone ones are great. They hold the sauce or whatever you're brushing on, they clean up in an absolute snap, I love 'em.

As for baking, I've see the silicone bread "pans" and such. It just seems to me that they wouldn't hold their shape and you'd have to use them as a liner for a regular pan (if only the cheap foil ones) to hold shape. That said, I haven't tried it. I'm guessing the cupcake ones might be better. But they're cheap enough - try one! At worst, you get a crappy shaped bread/cake, in which case next time you put the liner in a cheap foil tin to hold the shape and you should be golden.

[Phentex]

8. I second the brushes and

they sell them at the dollar store! :)

[Warpy]

2. I haven't been happy with the jelly roll pan liner

but I know people who love their silicone muffin pans. You do have to transfer it into the oven on a cookie sheet, though, unless you want to decorate the inside of your oven with the contents. They do tend to flop.

America's Test Kitchen wasn't terribly happy with the browning characteristics, though. They found the cheap Baker's Secret pans superior to just about everything else.

[politicat]

3. If baker's secret had madeleine pans, I'd bite.

No dice.

It's ten bux, so I'll get a metal one as well.

[Warpy]

4. They don't make brioche tins, either

It took me ten years to find brioche tins in this town. I make brioche only once a year or so, but by golly, I want the proper tins when I do.

I use the Baker's Secret stuff for all non fancy baking. I do find I have to replace it frequently, though, since the coating tends to wear off with time and the pan doesn't taste good.

The silicone Madeleine pan should do just fine as long as you have it sitting on a cookie sheet.

[midnight armadillo]

5. I will let you know tomorrow

Tomorrow morning I'm making my wife a batch of Pillsbury lemon poppy seed muffins (hardly gourmet, but with a 5 month old and a nearly 3 year old to get ready it's all I can manage before heading to work!) in our brand-new silicone muffin, er, tins. Muffin silicones? $8 ea on Amazon.com.

[politicat]

6. Thanks!! And congrats on the baking with kids!

My sister has one child and it's all she can do to get frozen nuggets and healthy takeout on the table.

(but she's effectively a single mom, since my BIL works for Boeing and is on a "temp" (right at 3 years now) contract in Arizona... She's in Illinois.)

The muffins sound delicious. I'm growing my own poppy seeds next year, so I'm going to do some taste testing.

[midnight armadillo]

7. muffin rubbers report

Muffin rubbers? Muffin silicones? Molds? What DO you call these things?

Anyway, I lightly oiled the inside of the cups with some oil as per the instructions - this only needs to be done for the first use and after passage through a dishwasher. Baked the lemon poppy muffins. Once they cooled a bit, held the pan upside down and pushed the bottom. The muffins popped out instantly, with nice browning all around, similar to what you get with Pyrex bakeware.

So far, so good! I like them. I had to put them on a cookie sheet since they're very floppy.

Pictures of the bakers:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=5574770&mesg_id=5574770

[politicat]

9. Muffin wellies!

Which is a horrid pun on rubbers (as in boots) but it's better than the alternative which popped into mind, which is NOT kid-safe.