Cleaning and drying a Silpat

[MelissaH]

I love Silpats. I don't love cleaning them after use. They're floppy, they take up huge amounts of space, they always seem to feel greasy, and they're tough to dry completely.

My usual technique is to get the sink completely empty, wipe it down with my soapy dishrag, and rinse. Then I lay the Silpat into the bottom of the sink, clean one side and then the other with the soapy dishrag, pick it up, and run water over it. To dry, I flop it over whatever else is on my drying rack, making sure to avoid anything sharp or pointy. After a couple of hours, I move the Silpat so that the places where it rests on something change, and the original resting points get a chance to dry.

Got a better solution? Could I clip it to my clothesline and let it hang to dry, or would this be bad for the Silpat (or would it be so slick as to slip right out of the clothespin)?

MelissaH

[Darienne]

Ditto for the cleaning nuisance factor.

I don't know how we managed before silicone baking and everything else sheets, but I sure do hate cleaning them.

As for flopping them over some rack type thing...if you aren't careful, they just slide off when you turn your back.

[Chris Amirault]

I'll read with interest. That's exactly what I do, Melissa, and I'm eager for a better solution.

[Lisa Shock]

At home I tend to dry mine on the handle of my oven door, if the oven is cooling down it speeds things up. Don't forget to shake it as you pull it from the sink, a lot of water will roll right off it. In a commercial kitchen, I tend to put them on the side slats of an empty speed rack and then into a cooling oven.

[Chris Amirault]

So no pro kitchen washing tips to share?

[jsmeeker]

My cleaning technique is similar. I dry it by curling it up so it can stand on it's edge in my dish drying rack. It basically works OK. I too would like to hear of different techniques.

[Lisa Shock]

Well, I tend to wash them in a freshly set up 3-compartment sink with the usual 'wash, rinse, sanitize' setup. You want to avoid having any oils in the sink, like might be present in used dishwater. I haven't seen any real difference in soaps. At home, with a 2-compartment sink, I wash with soap in one side, rinse with the tap, and sanitize in the other side -using bleach in the water at a concentration of a tablespoon per quart of water. (I measured the capacity once, now, I just know to add ¼ cup of bleach to the filled sink.) I also pick them up with fresh clean towels right after washing.

My biggest problem with silicon mats is ripping them while doing sugar work. Nougatine really rips them up.

[vice]

I wash mine right in the sheet pan in which they were used. Obviates the need to lie anything down flat in the sink.

[baroness]

I wash mine on the (already cleaned - once) pan or cookie sheet for support.

When they have been rinsed, I either use strong clothespins to hang them from my upper dishwasher rack, or use strong magnetic clothespins to attach them elsewhere for a quick drip-dry.

I store mine in a stack between larger cookie sheets - thanks, Mom, for that tip

[JAZ]

Am I the only one who washes them in the dishwasher? I either put them next to a sheetpan for support, or weave them around the prongs so they stay more or less upright.

[Peter the eater]

Am I the only one who washes them in the dishwasher?

JAZ, you're taking liberties with your mat, according to SILPAT:

* Clean your SILPAT mat with a damp, soft sponge, then rinse with clean water.

* Shake to remove excess water and dry in open air.

* A mild detergent or soap may be used if needed.

* Note: a slight oily residue after washing is normal, as is a slight discoloration. Strong flavored foods may leave a trace scent on the SILPAT.

* Once clean and dry, store the SILPAT flat.

* Do not use scrapers or brushes to clean SILPAT.

* Never cut the SILPAT or cut ON the SILPAT.

* Do not fold the SILPAT.

* Do not grease the SILPAT. It doesn’t need it.

* Never use a cut or ripped SILPAT as the fiberglass mesh material could migrate into the food.

* Avoid using automatic dishwashers, as they may harm the SILPAT.

* Do not use SILPAT with a broiler, a grill, or place directly on the bottom of an oven.

[Darienne]

* Once clean and dry, store the SILPAT flat.

What would be the thinking behind that? I store mine standing, loosely rolled in a large cardboard oats container.

[baroness]

* Once clean and dry, store the SILPAT flat.

What would be the thinking behind that? I store mine standing, loosely rolled in a large cardboard oats container.

Perhaps they would 'warp' or develop a bump/ridge near the lower edge.

Think of what happens to a rolled-up rug stored on one end for a while.

[Darienne]

* Once clean and dry, store the SILPAT flat.

What would be the thinking behind that? I store mine standing, loosely rolled in a large cardboard oats container.

Perhaps they would 'warp' or develop a bump/ridge near the lower edge.

Think of what happens to a rolled-up rug stored on one end for a while.

You could be right but I really can't see it happening inside the cardboard cylinder box. Maybe they are just covering the bases...

[JAZ]

My guess is that the main concern of the Silpat manufacturer is that the fiberglass layer inside the silicone will become exposed. That's the reason for not cutting them, and probably the reason behind not putting them in the dishwasher, although as I mentioned mine have been going in the dishwasher for years with no ill effect.

I would also imagine that it's not rolling that they're concerned about so much as folding -- again, because a fold could cause the silicone to split and expose the core. (As well as putting mine in the dishwasher, I also keep them rolled up inside paper towel tubes.)

[Special K]

I glued a couple of hooks to the ceiling above the sink, and I hang the silpats using those pants-hanger things, with the two clips. I store them in the pans, which fit nicely below the pull-out drawers in my lower kitchen cabinet.

[Edward J]

Me?

I just hose them down with the spray-gun at work, lay them intoa clean sheet pan, and pop the sheet pan into a hot oven, "bake" it 10 mins or so, and remove the sheetpan with the sil-pat onto a speed-rack to cool down.

I let the oven do the "sanitizing" for me, and at 350 F for 10 mins, it does a pretty good job.......

[Fat Guy]

Dishwasher here too. Definitely. It's too much trouble to clean them by hand, especially at home where you don't have a power sprayer and three basins. If after a few hundred washings the dishwasher destroys them, I'll get new ones. I mean, it's a $15 piece of plastic not a $300 copper pot -- how much wasted time is it really worth? But I've had four half-sheet-size Exopats for years, my wife does quite a bit of baking, and there has been no damage from the dishwasher.

[Pierogi]

Hmmmmmmm. See I've been blindly following this...

* Clean your SILPAT mat with a damp, soft sponge, then rinse with clean water.

* Shake to remove excess water and dry in open air.

* A mild detergent or soap may be used if needed.

* Note: a slight oily residue after washing is normal, as is a slight discoloration. Strong flavored foods may leave a trace scent on the SILPAT.

...and wondering if the "slight oily residue after washing" is a Good Thing (sorry Martha). But I've been dealing with it. Never thought to throw them in the dishwasher.....but yeah, life's too short to futz with washing & drying the things.

I do store them flat, though. As do apparently a lot of people, I just plop them into the sheet pans I normally use them with, and skip on by. I layer them in wax paper, just 'cause, at the moment I first stored them, it seemed like a smart thing to do, what with that slight oily residue.

[Wholemeal Crank]

The slightly oily residue is not a good thing when your delicate sweet pastry picks up some habanero heat from what you baked on them yesterday.

I do the flat in the sink thing for the wash and rinse, and depending on how many I have to dry, lay them over my stacking cooling racks to dry.

Don't have a great picture but the silpats fit across the width of the racks between the stacking legs just fine, and I can dry up to 6 of them at a time this way.

[JAZ]

I do store them flat, though. As do apparently a lot of people, I just plop them into the sheet pans I normally use them with, and skip on by. I layer them in wax paper, just 'cause, at the moment I first stored them, it seemed like a smart thing to do, what with that slight oily residue.

I keep mine rolled up inside paper towel cardboard tubes. I use my sheet pans much more often without Silpats than with them so storing them in the sheetpans is a pain. Besides, when you buy Silpats, they're rolled up. I figure if they've been stored rolled up in the warehouse for who knows how many months or years before they're purchased, they can continue life rolled up in my cabinet.

[MelissaH]

I've always stored mine rolled inside paper towel tubes as well. I make sure I roll them such that they're curled in the direction that when I put them inside a sheet pan, any residual curl would be down and not up. That way, any weight on the silpat will help keep them flat.

Interestingly, I've noticed that I tend to use parchment for baked goods, and the silpat for more savory tasks like roasting vegetables, where I could conceivably be left with a whale of a mess to clean in the pan. I think in part this is because I hate cleaning the things so much, whenever possible I look for an alternative! The only thing worse than cleaning a silpat is trying to clean black vulcanized gunk out of a sheet pan. (Not to mention, it's really easy to slide a sheet of parchment with cookies off the sheet pan, so the pan can get re-used quickly. Not the case with a silpat.)

MelissaH

[Aloha Steve]

I posted this in another thread here but I think its appropriate in to post here also.

I have not baked with mine. I use it for rolling dough on. Afterwards I clean with hot slightly soapy water, dry by hand and store like this.

Stored for six months rolled like this, it springs open, is as slippery as the day I opened it for the first time and it has no creases.

Edited October 1, 2009 by Aloha Steve (log)

[Wholemeal Crank]

Better picture of how I dry them, laid over cooling racks, and with the baking pans inverted over them, so air circulates and all surfaces get dry. The bigger pastry mat just goes right over the top of the stack.

[purplechick]

I live in a small NYC apartment with a small sink. So I rinse mine off in the bathtub, shake off as much water as possible and hang it over the shower rod to dry. I store it rolled around my rolling pin and it hasn't seemed to cause any problems.