<<Two products I have seen interest me, and I wonder if anyone out there
uses them:
1) The non-stick mats recently advertised in the King Arthur catalog
heretofore sold as pan-liners.
Do these work as kneading surfaces?>>
Alexandra,
What a great question/topic! I did buy the large silpat liner for use when
kneading, and it has been an enormous help. I have a standard tile
counter, which made a mess when I tried to knead. I was forever adding too
much flour in an attempt to get my dough "workable" on that surface.
I am not a gadget afficionado, and the only reason I got the silpat liners
this year is because I received several gift certificates from staff. I
confess I am a believer in using them as a pan liner (I worked the heck out
of them at Christmas, as I made hundreds of biscotti and merengues and dog
biscuits). I used the larger kneading mat (also silpat) for rolling out
gingerbread and dog biscuits, and it worked well, or at least it was an
improvement over the counter. The dog biscuit recipe contains molasses,
eggs, various flours and seeds, and is generally difficult to work
with. The liner helped enormously, although it does tend to shift a bit
during kneading. I solved this by tucking the end of the mat between my
abdomen and the counter edge as an anchor (I knew that stomach of mine
would come in handy someday!)
Sherri