The Perfect Pastry Mat
At my age, and as an experienced cook, I’ve accumulated a lot of kitchen tools over the years. My pots and pans, knives, and baking equipment are all top quality and old (like me) – but I love what I have and I don’t really desire anything new at this point. Being a minimalist, I have culled and given away many items that I wasn’t using, and I am embarrassed to say that I have a closet full of catering equipment, huge bowls, pots, thousands of sheets of parchment paper, gigantic rolls of saran…all waiting for my adult children to claim. This may never happen, but I have held onto my quality kitchen equipment nonetheless. Note: in five years, I’ll offer these things to anyone who wants to cook for the masses.
Sorry… I got carried away. What I wanted to tell you is that my sister Kay called and told me about this silicone pastry mat she found to replace her cloth one. She was making strudel and reported that this mat was the best thing since sliced bread. I have an old canvas pastry cloth, and it works but sometimes slides all over the countertop and has to be laundered after every use.
Back in the dark ages, I was taught by my mother to roll my pie dough and cookies and crackers on a mat to avoid using too much flour. I’ve used a cloth mat ever since, and at first I scoffed at the idea of a new silicone pastry mat — who needs it? My cloth one is fine. I don’t like silicone. I don’t want any more kitchen stuff, I argued… as I often do.
My other sister Susan followed Kay’s lead and bought the mat and raved about it. And then I had a change of heart. I am here to tell you, this is my new favorite kitchen tool. My pie crust, cookies, challah braids all need less flour to roll, the mat stays put on the counter, baked goods release from the mat with ease, cleaning it is simple, storage is easy and so I’m imploring you — buy this now at your local kitchen shop or here’s a link so you can buy it on Amazon. You’ll thank me.
