The same thing happened to me actually. My mother sent me a set of silicone pans and initially I really enjoyed them, but after just a few baking sessions (and dishwasher cycles) they stopped being non-stick. I wonder if it's brand specific or if they do this across the board? Anyway, you aren't alone. Also, good point about the fact that the silicone doesn't allow the same degree of browning.

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And I thought silicone bakeware was supposed to make
your life easy! I don't used it, personally, but my
sister had some and she hated it. She wanted to give to me, but said no thanks. I've got too much of the
traditional bakeware and I'm a sucker for things
tried and true.

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My mom uses Silpat (it's just a flat sheet that goes in a cookie sheet I guess) to make biscotti. It seems to work good for that. I haven't heard any complaints at least. Maybe it is a uni-tasker.

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Gadget-lovin' girl that I am, I've nonetheless shied away from silicone bakeware. Call it instinct or what you will, I just "had a feeling" it wouldn't perform as well as my trusty metal baking pans. Your tales of woe aren't the first I've heard about this stuff; it seems I'm a purist where it counts!

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The silicone pans were short-lived at my house, the stickiness issue, plus they didn't come clean well in the dishwasher. I also found them hard to store. There do seem to be a lot of knock-offs in the silicone world, maybe it's that? My set came (er) from Wal*Mart.

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I like the silicone stuff for molding mousses and working with hot sugar, but it's lame for most baking. Crust=flavor.

That said, I suspect the problem is polymerized fat on the surface. Like the yellow stuff that can build up on Pyrex 9x13s. Try a hefty dose of Dawn PowerDissolver spray (the blue trigger-spray bottle) and an hour of dwell time. You might want to avoid pan prep sprays - they tend to make the problem worse. I throw my silicone in the dishwasher too, and hitting it with the PowerDissolver every few uses, and I haven't had the problem again.

Eric

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I love Silpats - they really work and thanks to them I am able to make consistently gorgeous cookies. But Kitchenaid silicone bakeware stinks! I have 2 mini-muffin pans that make 24 muffins each. I've tried them a few times, with all different recipes. EVERY time the muffins stick - even when the cups are greased - and they come out looking awful. I'm going back to my old Wilton metal pans.

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Silicone spatulas, spoons, and pastry brushes are amazing. Even Silpats seem to work well, but I'd only use the silicone molds for foods that cool, like aspics, mousses and gelatins, not for baking.

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I wasn't impressed with the ones I had either, but never used them enough to get them "sticky."

I did have two baking stones that were supposed to be wonderful and never wear out turn sticky. They both developed a layer of sticky stuff that just would not come off, no matter the scrubbing or cleaner.

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the problem with silicone as bakeware is that silicone is an insulator. think about it: we have silicone oven mitts, and can hold really hot pots without feeling the heat. now think about trying to cook with that oven mitt. using silicone, energy isn't transferred easily from the oven, to the bakeware, to the food; the surfaces of the silicone pan won't get hot enough to produce that nice browning that we expect from metal pans.

like Eric said, silicone is great for molding and candy making, but not so great for trying to get a nice crust on a loaf of bread. i don't even like to use a Silpat when making cookies, as the bottoms of the cookies don't get the browning that i expect. i'll stick with metal bakeware and parchment.

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I'm not sure why, but silicone pans, etc. made in any color other than black (such as KitchenAids crappy red and blue pans) don't work. And, as far as I know, the only black ones are the French flexipans (available from DeMarle).

As effective and non-stick as the black ones are, it's true that they prevent a nice crust from developing. We use flexipans at work for baking madeleines and it's a travesty! Some things simply require a metal pan and it's worth the extra effort required.

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I never put my silicone in the dishwasher. I use the cupcake "pans" at least 3x a week, and don't have any stickiness. Also, I DO spray a little bit of cooking spray in them, but not as much as I'd have to with metal pans. I DO get nice browning on the edges and bottom as well. The cake ones are harder to use, but no stickiness in those either.

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I never bought silicone, mainly because I thought its floppiness was silly. Have to use another pan under it just to get it in and out of the oven! Though I do love my silpat....makes cookie baking so much easier!

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The Hubert Company web site says not to use non-stick sprays on silicone products. These are designed for commercial foodservice and restaurant use, so they might be better? It also says you should season them before the first use. Hope this helps you. Here's the link:

http://www.hubert.com/store/catalog/c/252/s/1939/ss/23644/src/searchlb/srchid/0/srchlnk/1/page.htm

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Similarly, those great Le Creuset silicon spatulas and spoonulas and the like develop a scum on them over time. I have one great spatula that I truly love -- but can't use, because it has somehow become coated with a barely-visible skin of that stickiness. It doesn't come from nonstick sprays, because I never use them. In this case, it's a coating that tastes rosy, because I once hand-washed it with a rose-geranium dishwashing liquid. Somehow the oil bonded to the spatula. Now if I use it, I make whatever I touch it with rose-geranium-flavored. Not nice! I will try the Dawn spray and report back, because I really love silicon bakeware and utensils but am tired of this seemingly inevitable issue.

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