Silpat or Parchment Paper? (poll)

I really don't have any problem with the performance of the silpats. I'm just wondering if there is anything superior to parchment about them. For example today I ramped up my Christmas cookie production line. I only have room in my oven for two large cookie sheets at a time, and my target production was eight dozen 1.5 dozen on each sheet. so about three oven batches. what I do is unroll enough parchment to cover my table and start cutting cookies. once the dough runs out i use my scissors to cut the paper into cookie sheet size. I can then take those sheets and quickly transfer them onto and off of the sheets for rotation into the oven. for this production method to work with a silpat I would need to have 6 or so mats.

I have had problem with other silicone bakeware though. After a few uses items have a tendency to stick. This is most pronounced problem is with silicone breadpans. I lost too many loaves to sticky silicone and have gone back to pyrex. I tried greasing the silicone to see if that would help but it actually increased the release problem. didn't have this problem with the silpat, but no matter how stuck on something is on a sheet you can usually get a spatula under it. This is not the case with breadpans- turn it out or crumble it...

That's interesting about the silicone breadpans. (Or should I say unfortunate?) I wonder what the difference is between the breadpans and the Silpat that makes the breadpan start to stick? Silicone cookware does indeed recommend that we not add additional greasing to the pan. The Silpats so far have been stick-free for me -- let's hope they stay that way.

And I agree with you about your method of baking. It would require you to have several Silpats. I have three, but I only use two at most at any one time for most things. Parchment paper definitely has the added advantage of being more versatile. I use parchment paper for fish and veggies on occasion, so I could technically do without the Silpats altogether.

There is nothing more heart wrenching than turning out your muffins only to find just the tops sitting on the cooling rack...

Ugh, I know what you mean. I had a similar problem with some mini pecan tarts and a mini muffin tin last weekend. Crust was all mangled like you wouldn't believe for batch #1. They just didn't pop out like they should have :( Thanks for sharing though -- I'll remember to stay away from the silicone bakeware. From your experience with it, I guess it just doesn't seem to do the trick.

if you are not a heavy baker they might be fine. The first few batches I made came out great. I got the muffin trays first and after I saw how well they worked I invested in the breadpans and some other silicone stuff. but with heavy usage they seemed to not work anymore. I tried various cleaning methods and greasing them but to no avail, they just seemed to get stickier and stickier. But that first batch or two of muffins were great...