Remember a couple weeks ago how we talked about using Silicone Baking Mats on your aluminum baking sheets to protect your food from being contaminated by aluminum? Upon seeing the pizza that I baked on my mat, several of you had this question:
Can you use a pizza cutter on the mat or wouldn’t that cut through and ruin the mat??
Ah yes. You are very smart. These silicone baking mats are high quality and very heavy duty. However, you do want to avoid cutting through them so you can continue using them again and again. After all, not only do these keep your food safe, they save you lots and lots of money since you can use it over and over forever.
How do these mats save you money? Well for years, I’ve been buying and using parchment paper to protect my food from my aluminum pans. I reuse my parchment paper a few times if possible, but over the years, I’ve gone through many a roll of parchment. These silicone mats are a one-time purchase, saving me from ever having to buy parchment again! I have two of the mats so I can bake two pans at once. :)
But back to caring for your silicone mat:
After I bake my food on my baking pan/mat, I simply slide the food off the mat and onto a serving tray. Then I cut the food as needed, keeping my mat out of the way so I don’t accidentally cut and ruin it. By the way, food slides very easily off these mats – another perk!
How about washing your silicone mat?
I simply give mine a good rinse with hot water or with a little bit of soapy water if needed. Then I lay it over my dish drain to dry. Easy!
I’m loving my silicone mats, both for food safety and how it saves me time in the kitchen! I appreciated that Karen left a comment last week stating the same thing:
I received my order of two of these “Healthy Cooking Products” mats just yesterday based on your recommendation. Today I made cinnamon rolls and some cookies. These mats are wonders! Besides enabling baked goods to just slip off, these mats also produced a superior baking product. Instead of some of the good stuff seeping into the pan or parchment, it stayed on the bottom of the cinnamon rolls. Delicious! Thank you for this recommendation.
Hooray for a great way to save money and time! And now I’m hungry for pizza. ;)
Now I am hungry for pizza, too. :-)
Just ordered 4 of these! They are currently $9 which is 70% off the regular price of $29.95!! Very excited to get these , in just 2 short days, since we do a LOT of baking!!
Where did you order from for that great price?
The links in this post lead you to these mats at that price from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Ant-slip-Approval-Approved-Baking/dp/B00PKOMS9W/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1418438304&sr=8-4&keywords=healthy%20cooking%20products%20baking%20mat). They’re awesome!
For what it’s worth, OXO makes a sweet little pizza cutter designed for non-stick baking surfaces that has a hard plastic wheel instead of a metal one. I have used one for years to cut all kinds of things (it’s great for slicing through pastry dough and baked goods!) and I adore it–I even broke one a year ago, and because OXO has a lifetime guarantee on their products, I called their customer service line, told them what happened, and I got a free replacement in the mail about a week later. Awesome.
I know some folks are against plastic in the kitchen at all, but honestly it barely touches your food while you cut, and it saves your baking surfaces from scratches and damage… sounds to me like a pretty worthy investment. Just thought I’d throw it out there in case anyone wanted a simple solution for slicing their tasty-good stuff! Blessings!
Now that you’ve found the joys of the silicone baking mats – you need to check out the silicone mat for rolling out crusts and kneading doughs. I use mine all the time. Rather than using flour for kneading and rolling out bread or pizza dough, I squirt a little olive oil on my silicone mat and knead away. It keeps my dough from sticking and makes the most velvety, elastic bread dough. And I flour it for pastry and roll away. Clean up is a breeze – I shake the excess flour in the trash bin and rinse the rest off under cool water. They are simply a much larger version of the baking mats. I’ve got two – one from Bed, Bath & Beyond and one from an Aldi special buy. Can’t remember how I ever lived without them!
Really?! The mess is the main obstacle that keeps me from baking more. I currently use a large, rimmed cookie sheet that my rolling pin can fit inside to contain all the flour & mess. I would love to cook more. I will definitely be trying this out. Thanks!
Where are these made? I have seen some silicone mats made in China and I won’t buy them. I have been looking for some made in the USA and that are reasonably priced.
I picked up two of these mats from when Laura advertised them earlier and am loving them. We really like how breads and cookies bake on them. No more parchment paper for me!
Hm, I’m going to have to consider getting something like this at some point… but right now a roll of parchment paper lasts for so long that it would be quite a while before I’d be saving money by using a silicone mat. Still, seems like it would be worth it in the (very) long run.
We use cast iron pizza pans for baking TONS of things (rolls, bagels, biscuits, AND pizza)! No fussing with parchment or mats. The seasoned pans work great and last forever (just have to avoid too much contact with water or they rust). Here is a link if anyone is interested in trying cast iron:
http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Pro-Logic-P14P3-Pizza-14-inch/dp/B0000E2V3X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423751565&sr=8-1&keywords=lodge+pizza+cast+iron
Should it help someone:
I have some very thin, flexible plastic cutting boards that I slide between the pizzas and the silicon mat. I then just use the pizza cutter and it doesn’t hurt the silicon mat.
I have seen my sister use these and they are everywhere, but I have avoided them basically because I figured there would be dangers with using these with food. Have you had any concerns about this, as I know you avoid plastic, microwaves and such. Thanks.
The good news is that these are not plastic plus they are BPA free. I don’t have concerns about these and find they are a great option in the kitchen. :)
Has anyone tried these making homemade french fries in the oven? I was just wondering if I would need to use any oil when baking french fries?