I love my ceramic baking ware so much more than glass or metal.

Eileen

If I would have spied the cute little green loaf pan at a thrift store, I would have adopted it too. I love your little tea pots in the picture as well.

I have a serious collection of metal loaf pans in a large range of sizes and manufacturers. As far as "favorite", that is determined by what is being made, but the dimpled Norpro pans (made in Chile) are some of my newest to the collection and have also been a favorite. I got them at a hardware store in the tiny Amish town of Yoder, KS. I like heavy metal for bakeware, just like my music ;-).

-Grainlady

"---It seems like every time I get a metal loaf pan, the non-stick coating starts peeling and it rusts (whether I put it in the dishwasher or not)...--"

You may want to try a silicone loaf pan. Non-stick and dishwasher safe.

dcarch

I use glass loaf pans for making meatloaf as well as various breads.

I have two heavy aluminum old Nordicware loaf pans that I use for making various quick breads. No non-stick coatings; I just grease/flour them and have never used the spray coating on them. I'm sure they'll last until I die.

So cute and size appropriate for a single guy. Although I know you share your food creations.

*While I have your attention--when can we arrange for you to adopt some of my pots and pans?

Cathy, I sent you a private email to the address in your profile.... not sure if you still use that one or not.... I know the one in my profile was hacked a couple years ago and while I'm sure the hacker has full access to my account, I haven't been able to get in since.... apparently they changed my password and security questions! I use gmail instead of yahoo now anyway....

I never think about the ceramic bakeware, but it does look much better than glass or metal! The new baby loaf pan is ceramic and I really like it.

I don't know any real cooks who like silicone bakeware.... maybe some of you do and I don't know about it, but I threw mine in the garbage (which is where it belongs) a year ago.... it was too floppy and hard to clean and imparted a silicone flavor to my baked goods.... when I bake, silicone is not quite the flavor I want....

Another vote AGAINST silicon here. I have many glass loaf pans and used them for breads also until I discovered KAF bread pans. Now the glass loaf pans get used for meatloaf and such, and bread is only cooked in the King Arthur pans.

I guess I have been very luck with silicone rubber, including molds I have made myself using food grade molding silicone rubber. Non-stick, dishwasher safe, microwave safe and non-breakable. Same as Silpad and silicone bake sheets. Very good reviews on Amazon.

"Silicone rubber is generally non-reactive, stable, and resistant to extreme environments and temperatures from âÂÂ58 ðF to +572.00úFwhile still maintaining its useful properties. -----Due to these properties -----, silicone rubber can be found in a wide variety of products, including: -------; cooking, baking, and food storage products; ----Silicone rubber is a highly inert material and does not react with most chemicals. Due to its inertness, it is used in many medical applications and in medical implants.---"

dcarch

This post was edited by dcarch on Mon, Mar 18, 13 at 13:33

I have some heavy metal loaf pans, but then I also have a couple of Pyrex pans, and I tend to use the glass ones even though I have not had a problem with the metal ones sticking. I generally grease them well if I'm putting bread dough in them. If I'm making a pound case, I will put parchment paper in the bottom of the metal pan.

I like your sewing machine teapot - I've never seen one of those!

Lars

Silicone pans are useless for baking. They are thermally NON-conducting, so anything inside the pan does not develop a crust. Sides and tops are pale, never browning because heat is not transferred. On top of this, the pan does not hold its shape when filled. So when you pour batter inside, it deforms, usually bulging out at some inconvenient place. Round cakes become oval. Loaves have tummies. The softness of the material also means you need a tray or something rigid to move them from a counter to an oven.

I have a lot of silicone bakeware, all gifted to me some time ago. I use it to make suet cakes for the birds. Other than this, they are perfectly useless.

Cheryl

Silicone is a fair heat conductor, it is used universally to conduct away heat in all electronic making, in all computer CPUs, in all heat sinks for electronic components.

dcarch

Hey Bobby, I checked my gardenweb profile and the email address is correct. However, I didn't receive your email. I do have a gmail address for you, I'll give it a try.

dcarch - see link below for description of silicone used for bakeware. Note the Properties list which has "Low thermal conductivity" at #1. I think you are confusing silicone used for cooking with silicon compounds which can be fabricated for industrial use.

My cake pans are almost all made of aluminium which has thermal conductivity around 200 W/mK. What do you regard as high thermal conductivity?

However if you still doubt what several of us have already said, buy a silicone pan and bake a cake. That's the real test.

Cheryl

Here is a link that might be useful: silicone properties

I think it is interesting to exchange different experiences; one of the reasons for me to participate in a forum like this.

Depending on the recipe, the characteristic of the oven, the individualâÂÂs working habits, I think the cooking outcome can be different.

I agree with you that silicone is not as good a conductor as aluminum, thatâÂÂs why I said itâÂÂs a âÂÂfairâ thermal conductor.

I am also curious, in addition to my not-too-bad experiences, most of the reviews of silicone bake ware (on Amazon) are favorable.

A couple of things I have baked using my own silicone mold, a meat loaf and a loaf of bread.

dcarch

I love that silicone mold you made Dcarch. Beautiful loaf of bread. And I don't see any tummy either. Although I would eat it even if it did have a tummy! :-)

You are sooooooo creative.

I love that silicone mold you made Dcarch. Beautiful loaf of bread. And I don't see any tummy either. Although I would eat it even if it did have a tummy! :-)

You are sooooooo creative.

I think the best use for silicon is molds, and I use the silicon Madeleine pan that San gave me for making chocolate turtles. I made Madeleines in the pan once, and it worked well for that, but they are rather shallow cookies. I do not like the silicon mits or pan grabbers, but I love the silicon spatulas!

Lars

DC, When you say "using my own silicone mold", do you mean you made it?

dcarch,

I've had the same experience as other forum members. My silicon muffin pan was an awful piece of junk. It stuck. Badly. So, I tried the spray stuff. All I ended up with was a muffin pan that was gunked up from the spray and the muffins still stuck. It wasn't even something I could give to Goodwill.

I know that you use little sugar, fat and/or dairy when you cook. When I bake those ingredients are almost always used in one degree or another. I'm wondering if there's a difference in the combination of WHAT goes into the pan that determines its usefulness? Even your meatloaf does not look anything like mine. Not that one or the other is better - just that cooking styles vary and, maybe, that's part of the reason for the difference in opinions regarding silicon for baking.

/tricia

Cathy - Dcarch says above (mid-way thru the thread) "I guess I have been very lucky with silicone rubber, including molds I have made myself."

Yes - he made that beautiful mold. And the bread does appear to have a crust. Maybe not the crunchy crust a baquette might have, but a crust none-the-less. :-)

Thanks Teresa. Yes, that is a custom made mold. There is nothing impressive about making the mold.

Buy food grade silicone RTV molding rubber, mix two equal parts, pour on a form of your choice, In a few hours, the mold is done. Silicone rubber mold releases easily from the form, and can copy extremely fine details.

Tricia, I am not sure what kind of "meat loaf" that was I made, LOL! 1/3 beans, leftover chicken pork & beef and a few other things. Did taste very good.

Chocolate I made using the mold.

dcarch

re thermal conductivity - I don't think you have to get more scientific than looking at the vast assortment of silicone pot holders, barbecue mitts, etc. to draw your own conclusions. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing might depend on what you're baking. I looked around for professional reviews of silicone kitchen utensils and found some comments of interest:

"Silicone, we decided, is better suited for non-baking tasks." - Cooks Illustrated

"The disappointments were mostly bakeware products..." - Marian Burros, cookbook author and NY Time food columnist

"We don't recommend using them for baking when you want to create a golden crust; otherwise they are fine." - Modernist Cuisine at Home

"WeâÂÂve found silicone pans to be best for sweet baked goods, whose sugar helps them brown; baked goods low in sugar or fat (e.g., hearth breads) baked in a silicone pan donâÂÂt brown well." - King Arthur Flour

Reading the thread again:

I am sorry Bobby, I didn't intend to hijack your thread.

Forgive me.

dcarch

I've made silicone molds for candles. The only way to end up with a cylindrical candle of circular cross section without weird distortions ("tummies") is to make the mold pretty thick. For a 1" diameter candle, the mold was 2" in diameter. The thickness gives the mold rigidity that thinner molds don't have.

No commercial bakeware could be this thick, not without very high prices. Silicone is not cheap. If you look at the reviews on amazon, they also comment on how flexible the bakeware is. This is supposed to help to get your cake or muffin out. It works like a charm for suet since the cooled fat is absolutely rigid, so you just flex the sides and the whole pan turns out in one piece.

BTW as Triciae and others have already said, the nonstick properties of silicone are highly overrated. I found it impossible to turn an 8" circular cake out without damaging it. It didn't help my mood that it ended up a slanting oval instead of a circle.

But the poor thermal conductivity is a killer for anyone trying to bake cakes. Silicone bakeware is an absolute fail. I tried (1) round cakes, (2) muffins, (3) square sheet cakes (4) quick breads. Without exception they were miserable failures. I bake just about every week and have seldom seen such pale sad results.

Does anyone who bakes cakes regularly like silicone pans?

Cheryl

Cheryl - The cost of pourable silicone turned me away from playing with it. But for your candles, can't you put a thin mold into something more rigid rather than make them so thick? Anyway, regarding the non-stick qualities of silicone, here's more of a quote from the same NY Times article:

LetâÂÂs immediately dispense with a common myth about silicone baking pans, and a reason many people say they buy them: that they are nonstick and do not require greasing.

Those who once believed this can tell you about partial layers of cake left behind and about muffin tops in hand and muffin bottoms left in the cup. Stick resistant is a better description.

Michael Karyo, owner of SiliconeZone, which makes silicone cookware, agreed. âÂÂIf any silicone manufacturer says you never have to grease a pan, no matter, they are not telling you the truth,â he said.

Bobby - Though the reviews are a bit dated, Cooks Illustrated seems to be high on Williams Sonoma's Goldtouch baking pans. The online customer reviews seem excellent, too.

Back on topic:

"---Does anyone who bakes cakes regularly like silicone pans?--"

"---Anyway, regarding the non-stick qualities of silicone, ---"

Or read the several hundreds of user reviews on Amazon.

dcarch

foas - for something like a simple taper you could probably find something that would hold the silicone mold more-or-less straight. But for anything more complicated, you would have to make a separate, larger mold and put something in between to maintain rigidity.

My days of playing with silicone didn't last long. The stuff is too expensive, and the smell isn't pleasant. You can make very attractive, complex shapes without too much effort, but for me it wasn't worth it.

Back to the OP, I have several pans made by Chicago Metallic, though no loaf pans. Sorry, my loaf pans are ancient and I have no idea who manufactured them. CM is excellent, very durable, non-warping. I don't have any nonstick pans, I rely on fat and flour which work for me. Or you could try cutting parchment to line your pans.

Cheryl

dcarch - I read through about 100 reviews on amazon. Some people who like the bakeware appear to bake, it's hard to tell. Many use the pans for candy and soap. I'm sure it's great for both. There are a lot of negative reviews as well.

I've given it a fair try, I bake regularly and I hate the stuff.

Cheryl

FOAS,

I recently replaced my bakeware with a set of WS GoldTouch. A 6-piece set was on sale about 6 weeks ago and I snagged a set. I've not yet settled into a normal routine of baking but what I've done leads me to believe that I will love using this bakeware. I've only make one quick bread, a couple batches of muffins, and used the sheet pan for roasted veggies so far from a thorough test at this point though. It's replacing WS's older line of Gold bakeware that I owned for about 10-15 years and loved. I expect this new set, combined with my Bennington Pottery, to be good enough that I doubt I'll buy any more bakeware.

/tricia

Cheryl, I have had the oval cake problem too and it was infuriating...... and then flipping it without breaking is virtually impossible. Usually one half breaks out and the other half remains stuck, no matter now much butter or bakers joy I've used... I think I once made the ugliest carrot cake in the world thanks to silicone pans... I nearly submitted it to Ripleys to see if I could become a record holder for that lofty title ;o) It felt really good to throw those pans away.

About silicone being a "fair" heat conductor.... I hope not, because if it were, people who use silicone trivets, pot holders, and iron rests would have some serious problems!

I think for now the glass pan will be fine, but It is good to know about the Williams Sonoma ones for future reference...

I'll add my name to the list of people who hate the silicone bakeware. I had better luck with the muffin pan, which was smaller, than I did with the bundt pan, which always stuck, never stayed in the right shape, spilled when I tried to move it. No matter how much it was greased or floured or sprayed, it stuck and everything came out in many pieces, never all in one piece. I hated that pan, as well as the round layer cake pans which performed approximately as poorly. They were such carp that I put it all in the "free" box when I had a yard sale but no one took it because when they asked how it worked, I told them. I do have Silpats, which I tried to use for rolling out pie crust and it worked horribly for that too, but it's pretty good for fondant if you dust with powdered sugar and they work for baking cookies. Dave does like the silicone pot holders for removing hot radiator caps and such in the garage, so I gave those to him, LOL.

It might have worked OK for an ice mold, or maybe jello, but I don't make either of those things, so into the trash went the silicone.

My favorite pans are my old uncoated aluminum Bake King pans, probably the things are as old as I am. I have some nice new non-stick KitchenAid loaf pans and they've held up, not lost their coating, work well, don't stick, etc. However, they are 9x5 and they're just too big, so I always revert back to the smaller 8 inch Bake King pans. I have old Bake King round cake pans too, they work well as long as they are well greased and floured.

My old glass pyrex also works as well as anything I own, but I don't have any ceramic bakeware other than pie pans. I try to stay away from glass/ceramic bakeware because I'm clumsy and when my carpal tunnel is giving me fits I drop everything. Metal can take the abuse. (grin)

Annie

I know a couple people who have silicone bakeware and like it. They make things like conventional banana bread and things in it. What several people have pointed out is that there's different qualities of silicone bakeware as there is with most things. I imagine the "As Seen On An Infomercial" would not be the highest quality and if that's where you're buying it or at Malwart, you probably aren't getting the best of gear. I decided it's not worth the price for me to try it when the gear I have works fine.

I use glass and the cheap stuff from department stores. I think it's Baker's (Something) brand. Can't remember the name. I've had this stuff for decades. I NEVER use cooking sprays anymore. I ruined too many pans with that crapola. I use butter or shortening and flour the pans for things like bread and have never had any serious issues with it. Wash it without using sandpaper and dry it and put it away. Cleans up easily. Cheap. Works well. Can't ask for more. I'm not a foo-foo cook. I'm happy with it.

Interesting teapots vacuumfreak. I like them both.

I've heard rumors about Grainlady... Some say she doesn't use a mortar and pestle - she smashes garlic and peppercorns with her guitar! :D