1. Have you checked your oven temperature with an oven thermometer? That's how you KNOW when your oven reaches the correct temperature for baking - not according to any certain amount of time or a magic pre-heat beep from the oven. Many ovens are out of calibration. Just because the knob or digital read-out says 350F, doesn't necessarily MEAN that's the actual temperature. You need to check the temperature with the oven thermometer where the baking is going to be done (such as the middle rack in the middle of the oven). In some ovens the temperature can differ from one rack to another, as well as from the front of the oven to the back. Baking muffins in an oven that is too hot will create asymmetrically shaped muffins. If the oven temperature is too cool, the muffins will be heavy and not rise correctly. Most muffins bake at 350°-400°F. Those temperatures vary according to the recipe and the type of batter used. 2. If the silicone muffin pans aren't working for you, then I'd suggest using standard metal pans. If you don't like the clean-up, use paper or foil muffin papers to line the muffin pans (metal OR silicone). Did you spray your muffin pan with PAM or other vegetable spray? That can discolor silicone (as well as metal pans), especially any over-spray on the surface top of the pan. I avoid PAM for spraying ANY type of pan - it's just nasty, gunky, stuff that builds up on the surface and is difficult to remove. Did you place the silicone muffin pan on a flat surface (a cookie sheet) during baking? There are different finishes on different brands of silicone bakeware, and some work better than others. 3. How did you mix your muffins? Only mix muffins until the dry ingredients are almost completely incorporated (even a small amount of dry ingreients still visible is okay - over-mixing ISN'T okay). DO NOT use an electric mixer because that results in too much gluten development and poor quality muffins. A wooden spoon or spatula will work fine, even a dinner fork is a good choice for mixing quick batters. A Danish Dough Whisk is actually one of the best investments for hand mixing (yeast breads, quick breads of all kinds, etc.). Your problem may partially be your mixing technique, oven temperature, as well as the pan. Wait to mix and pan muffin batter AFTER the oven has completed pre-heating. You never want the batter to be waiting for the oven to heat (that goes for all batters that have chemical leavening - soda/baking powder - in them.) Due to the type of leavening (baking powder), you need to quickly mix, pan, and get it into a hot oven to get maximum lift out of the leavening. Baking powder reacts twice, once when it is mixed with the liquid ingredients, and again when it hits the hot oven. It will lose it's UMPH the longer it sits waiting for the oven to pre-heat. 4. Normally, a bread machine only needs "babysitting" for the first 10 minutes or so of mixing/kneading until you are sure the dough has the correct hydration. You have to do that with ANY bread making technique, not just bread machines. I use a bread machine for nearly all my yeast breads anymore (dough only). It does a better job than either by-hand or stand mixers. King Arthur Test Kitchen uses Zojurishi BM for all their bread dough making for just those reasons. Patience is still a virtue, even in this ADD/ADHD world where people choose baby carrots so they don't have to peel and chop whole carrots, salad in a bag, instead of choosing the greens, washing and preparing them, and a whole generation who only "cook" using a microwave. Slow cooking is a lost art. -Grainlady

For whatever it's worth: A very kindly middle aged gentleman sales person in the housewares section of a Bed Bath & Beyond told me one day that Pam will ruin non-stick surfaces. He went on to say that most other brands are fine, But never use Pam on any non-stick surface. He also went on about he didn't know why anyone thought they needed anything on non-stick surfaces. But that is neither here nor there, Especially as I am one who thinks something IS needed! So again, for whatever it's worth, I stopped using Pam in my non-stick skillets, & now use a store brand spray. (I read the list of ingredients to make sure it differed) And lo & behold, my currant 'cheapy' non-stick pan is lasting a LOT longer than others I've had in the past. Same brand. But back to the OP's question. I always use liners in muffin tins. No spray, no butter, no grease, etc. Any drops of dough on the pan wipes off easily. I have the Wilton non-stick jumbo size, and love them. I like to use liners because it makes eating out-of-hand so much easier. And the muffins don't look naked. ;>) Rusty

Hmmm. thanks for all the info. I'll have to investigate conversion coatings further. I have some sort of thick coating-type stuff on a radiator in the bathroom that someone else put on; it's thicker than a paint would be, and it's sort of rubbery or plasticy looking. It's peeling in a spot or two, and it has yellowed; we never painted over it, I guess we thought we shouldn't. I wonder what it is--I didn't really get any details from my contractor/handyman. If I've got a pipe w/ an area that's got this black flaking, and an area where the paint really stuck well, should I avoid a conversion coating? Or will it stick well enough to the paint that I can tackle the whole pipe without having to remove all the paint?

im not quite sure, tho they weren't scratched at all, their surface was ok. all the pins i have rust pretty frequently and there seems to be 2 main kinds of material depending on the pin so i cant say for sure (first pic is the one that dulled, evidently and the second is another one i tried it on, where the rust left but the spot remained. they appear to be different materials though)