My chef pal says that the pastry folks use parchment for everything…because replacing parchment takes a fraction of the time it takes to scrape residue and send it to dish.
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Yes, this product is great, but quite expensive, IME. Easy Off gel is my more affordable go-to.
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This is true, yet may be environmentally shortsighted and irresponsible, if the parchment in question is coated with PTFE.
It isn’t, usually.
The one I bought says it is silicon coated. Is that ptfe? Anyway, I don’t use it much. Only for breads and pizza.
Um, both Reynolds and the Kirkland brands do.
I once let Comet soak in mine … big mistake. Best bet is the paste of baking soda and vinegar and steel wool to scrub.
I don’t work in a commercial kitchen… i answered the question but was very clear it was 2nd hand information.
Not sure why I should know how its made.
Should be completely different animals. I’d think that nowadays, with all the attention put on teflon-type materials, any manufacturer offering a PTFE-coated parchment might find itself hounded by a pitchfork-wielding mob.
Re Silpats, I have both the thicker silicone mats (almost rubbery, about 2 mm thick) and this type shown below, which I find far superior to the rubbery guys. As Tim mentioned, they do tend to retain a bit of grease and I have to usually wash a couple of times. But I like them a lot. For a fairly sticky product, like bagels that have been boiled, I do use some corn meal to help with release. Otherwise, cookies etc, I just use as-is.
P.S. If you haven’t fully removed the gummy gunk, or find yourself in the same situation again - as I have done more than once - I found using a chain mail scrubber with Dawn dish soap at essentially full strength (just a bit of residual water on the pan) combined with some heavy elbow grease took care of it. I had the same frustration with other methods that you mentioned, the stuff just seemed to want to smear around but not release.
Your title “Help! Did I wreck my baking sheet?” brought back a fond memory from about 20 years ago. For Christmas I had just gotten 2 new baking sheets from my wife. The heavy-duty kind where the rim wraps tube steel to ensure no warping. On New Year’s Day we had an ice storm. I decided my new baking sheets would make for great street sledding for my toddler daughters. They did make good sleds. Scratched the heck out of the undersides of them and one has a crumpled corner. Now that’s how you wreck your baking sheet. But they’re still in use.
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As Sunshine842’s friend said, in all the professional kitchens/bakeries I have worked in we use parchment for almost everything, not just baked goods.
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Love it. My husband and I were part of a large group of college kids that took advantage of a small campus hill and a very snowy day. No one had sleds. We all “borrowed” lunch trays from the caf. It was an excellent time. I’m quite sure we scratched up the bottoms of those too.
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Yes, silicone and PTFE are different chemicals. It’s difficult to test for PFAS, and the only readily available test is or fluorine compounds. The two brands test 12 and 14ppm for fluorines.
I bought this and love it for its compact storage and its pre-cut sheets.
Bleached and silicone coated. They make an unbleached version…
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Next box. I’m taking you seriously because I do care very much about environmental issues. Live and learn.
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In case a pan cannot be salvaged, sometimes Ace Mart sells nice ones for $5 each.
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Hi @Sasha! Your post brought me out from the sidelines for a minute (am taking a break) because I was battling sheet pan goo myself yesterday.
I have had decent luck with smearing my sheet pan with Dawn dishwashing liquid to remove baked-on goop. I like roasting veggies directly on a hot pan to get caramelization. So, I needed to find a way of removing baked-on olive oil or duck fat.
Here’s my procedure: I let the Dawn sit on the sheet for an hour or more. Essentially, until the grease softens and I can scrape the gunk away with an old credit card. (If the Dawn has dried up I add more to reactivate it before scraping.) I’ll do a couple of rounds when the ick is really persistent.
Here’s what my baking sheet looked like after I did the Dawn treatment yesterday. Before there was baked-on goo all over the pan. (No before pic because I hadn’t yet seen your question.) Not perfect as you can see, but the sticky goop is gone.
I then tried baking soda + Dawn + a scrubbie sponge to remove the remainder. Not much budged. My next round was hydrogen peroxide + Dawn + scrubbie which removed a little more. Again, I allowed the solution to soften the stain until it could be scrubbed off.
I didn’t keep working at it because this is my designated sheet pan for veggie roasting. Probably could have cleared away those last bits too. That mess is just going to happen again, ha.
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Thank you! I was fortunate that the baking soda and vinegar and scrub worked for me, and I’m hoping not to make this mistake again. We’ve generally been able to clean off even really tough stuck-on stuff. But I’m convinced that a bunch of time baking cooking spray creates a chemical reaction that makes it adhere to the surface like there’s no tomorrow. It is its own special awfulness.
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If it happens again, try the Dawn. I was surprised to find it was really good as a degreaser. Also that plus hydrogen peroxide to remove food stains from the tablecloth. We’re a mess around my house. Cheers!
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Hear hear. Same.
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