Silicone Baking Mats Explained
If you're running a busy kitchen, silicone baking mats can be a great resource. These types of kitchen equipment are especially useful for baking, for example:
- Creating the best crispy cookies
- Baking croissants or other light and fluffy pastries
- Working with savories baked into phyllo dough
- Roasting certain kinds of vegetables or other ingredients
Silicone baking mats can resist pretty high heat because of how they are made. They also provide a handy non-stick surface to help keep what goes into your oven from burning and sticking to the tray. With the right care and safety precautions, you can get years of use out of your silicone baking mats.
Are Silicone Baking Mats Safe?
Silicone baking mats are essentially made of sand. That leads experts to suggest that silicone baking mats are relatively safe. This piece in Scientific American shows how experts assess these types of materials as having ‘low toxicity,’ while further research into silicone baking mats could still be useful. Scientists may say that the body tolerates silicone well in certain forms. However, silicone in other forms can be dangerous. The FDA has advertised concerns about liquid silicone, which can cause health conditions if it's ingested. People can get exposed to liquid silicone through:
- Breast implants
- Lip or face injections
- Some types of cosmetics
- Melted silicone kitchenware
With that in mind, it's important with any silicone kitchen equipment to look at the temperature rating, and not exceed the maximum temperature that's indicated on the packaging. Since silicone baking mats are not liquid silicone but a solid baking sheet, they're considered safe as long as they don't break down and release materials into your food.
Cleaning Silicone Baking Mats
When you're using silicone baking mats in the kitchen, it's important to know how to clean them. You pull a fresh batch of cookies or something else out of the oven and set the silicone baking mats to the side. That's normal in a fast-paced kitchen, but manufacturers advise cleaning these mats in specific ways, for example, using a “double clean,” to make sure to minimize the sticky film that can build up with continued use. Over time, some of the greasy or oily substances can soak into the silicone baking mat. These substances can dry to the mat and get more difficult to clean off later on, or breed bacteria. A best practice for cleaning silicone baking mats is to use baking soda and vinegar and hand-wash them. Hand-washing can potentially help silicone baking mats last longer, but some chefs use the dishwasher to clean their baking mats.
When you’re looking for the kitchen equipment and gear that is going to help you to shine in the business world, Chefs’ Toys can help. Our staff have actual experience in fast-paced restaurant kitchens, where the real work goes on! We’re chefs with a purpose: to help others figure out all of those handy tips and techniques that can bring your food service business to the next level. Browse our catalog to find the baking supplies you’re looking for.
