
Using a Rolling Pin
- Crumb. As the name says, rolling pins are good for making any crumbs, from bread crumbs to graham, and many more.
- Grind. It is just like crumbling. ...
- Mold. It may be funny to think but using a rolling pin is a great way to form molds. ...
- Tenderize. A rolling pin is a cheap alternative to your kitchen mallet. ...
- Smash. ...
What is the disadvantage of using a rolling pin?
- The rod is easier on your hands and wrists. You place your palm on each end of it and roll using even pressure across the dough. ...
- The rolling pin is used by holding the handles and rolling the cylinder across the dough. ...
- Some rolling pins are one piece with handles, a cross between both types of rolling pins.
What material is best for rolling pin?
What you need to know before buying the best wood for rolling pin from homechit?
- Carefully read the information and details of the wood for rolling pin you intend to buy. ...
- Read customer reviews about wood for rolling pin and services. There are many options on the online shopping market, but not all wood for rolling pin are worth buying.
- Refer to the prices of some famous brands to compare and make a purchasing decision. ...
How to make a simple rolling pin?
- wooden rolling pins
- chalk-type or acrylic paint
- mod podge
- striped transfer
- floral transfer of your choice
- paintbrush
- scissors
What can you do with a rolling pin?
What else can you use an embossed rolling pin for?
- Pastry crust: To create a perfectly textured crust, emboss the top of a double-crust pie. ...
- Shortbread: Because shortbread dough is a bit stiffer, it’s a great candidate for this decorative finish.
- Pasta: You can emboss homemade noodles.
Is rolling pin necessary?
A basic kitchen tool and must-have for making everything from pie to cookies, a rolling pin is a very simple and often overlooked essential. While bakers might consider all the options before they invest in new cookie sheets, mixing bowls, or a cookbook, the rolling pin is humble and often overlooked.
What are 3 uses of a rolling pin?
They are usually used for rolling out dough for pastries, such as pies and cookies, but can also be used for rolling out bread dough for items like pizza, cinnamon rolls, and pasta.
Where are rolling pin used?
Rolling pins are long cylinders used to press out dough evenly and smoothly. They are primarily used for rolling out dough for pastries, such as pies and cookies, but they can also be used for rolling out bread-type dough for items such as cinnamon rolls and pizza, and for rolling out pasta dough.
How does a roller pin work?
0:131:44Cooking: Basics of rolling pins - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd i get a lot of questions from people about what kind of rolling pin should i buy. So i thoughtMoreAnd i get a lot of questions from people about what kind of rolling pin should i buy. So i thought let's talk about it. Um we just start on the end we have this what they call a just a pin right yep
What is rolling in baking?
An efficient rolling technique helps to ensure pastry is not stretched or overworked (which can cause excessive shrinkage during baking). It also helps to prevent the pastry from warming up during the shaping and lining process, which makes it difficult to handle and can result in greasy pastry.
Who invented the rolling pin?
Late in the nineteenth century, J. W. Reed invented the rolling pin with handles connected to a center rod; this is similar to the tool we know today, and it prevents cooks from putting their hands on the rolling surface while shaping pastry.
When was the rolling pin first used?
It is believed that rolling pins were first used by the Etruscan civilisation in ancient Italy from around 800 BC, and were used to flatten dough.
Why are rolling pins made of wood?
These basic pins are typically made of smooth walnut or maple wood, which allows them to glide easily through your hands, and they're also easy to hand-wash because there are no hidden nooks for flour to hide in.
What are the equipments used in baking?
Must-Have Baking ToolsMeasuring Cups (Liquid and Dry) and Spoons. Baking is all about precision, so having a full set of measuring cups and spoons on hand is a must. ... Wooden Spoon(s) ... Rubber Spatula/Scraper. ... Spatula/Metal Turner. ... Pastry Brush. ... Whisk. ... Kitchen Scissors. ... Rolling Pin.More items...•
How do you use a rolling pin for back pain?
0:402:58Self Massage at Home Using a Rolling Pin. Good for Sore Muscles.YouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipYou know that's a fatigue feeling so what I'm gonna do is take a rolling pin. And just do a softMoreYou know that's a fatigue feeling so what I'm gonna do is take a rolling pin. And just do a soft massage. And what's going on and is you're massaging the muscle but you're forcing.
What is a rolling pin?
First, not to confuse the rolling pin with the bowling pin (or any other pin), the rolling pin is a utensil that has a cylindrical shape with one handle on each side that is used in the kitchen mainly to flatten out and shape dough. According to historical records, many ancient civilizations used round pieces of wood ...
Do Italians use glass pins?
Glass pins are popular in Italy, in fact, they use chilled wine bottles! The French prefer marble pins on top of marble boards. Other countries make theirs hollow, filling the center with cold water. This would be similar to the Italians and the wine bottle. Here, in the United States, we have primarily used wood.
Our easy guide to using a utensil found in every Italian home
In an Italian household, a rolling pin basically screams fresh pasta: tagliatelle, lasagna, maltagliati, orecchiette, maccheroni, spaghetti alla chitarra … the list goes on and on. Because beyond the shaping techniques you apply with your hands, the rolling pin is essential for transforming a ball of dough into the base of all our favorite recipes.
Types of rolling pins
The rolling pin is one of the most ancient tools in the world of cooking, and despite a thousand innovations, it remains true to itself and its primary use: rolling out dough. It’s a wooden stick that can range in both length and weight. When rolled back and forth, it transforms any type of dough into thin sheets.
How to roll out dough with a rolling pin
The correct movement for rolling out dough is simple, but you need a lot of practice to be able to make it perfectly thin. First, flour the rolling pin and a wood or marble work surface so nothing sticks. Then start rolling out the dough, gradually turning it clockwise as it becomes thinner and thinner.
Mobile rolling pins
While our grandmothers used to roll out dough with a bit of elbow grease and lots of patience, today we have pins that roll on their own, which are very practical and also very affordable. Just grab the handles and let the cylinder roll.
Alternative uses for rolling pins and some special versions
Rolling pins are not only used to roll out dough. In fact, many people also use them to crush foods or to decorate. For example, if you want to make a cheesecake crust or you have to chop nuts but you don’t have a food processor, place the ingredients in a large resealable bag, seal it, and crush them with a rolling pin.
What is a rolling pin?
A rolling pin is a cylindrical food preparation utensil used to shape and flatten dough. Two styles of rolling pin are found: rollers and rods.
What are the two types of rolling pins?
Two styles of rolling pin are found: rollers and rods. Roller types consists of a thick cylinder with small handles at each end; rod type rolling pins are usually thin tapered batons. Rolling pins of different styles and materials offer varying advantages, as they are used for different tasks in cooking and baking.
What is a rod in dough?
A tapered (top) and straight (bottom) "rod" type rolling pins. Rod: Thin rods typically made of wood around 1-2 inches (2–3 cm) in diameter. They are used by rolling the rod across the dough using one's palm. The pins may be tapered at one or both ends for more pivot control in certain tasks such as making small jiaozi skins or pie shells.
Can you use marble rolling pins in a refrigerator?
Some are hollow and are able to be filled with cold or warm water to better roll a desired food. Marble rolling pins are often cooled in a refrigerator for maintaining a cold dough while making puff pastry. Rolling pins. Striated rolling pin surface for making Norwegian Lefse.
What is a rolling pin?
These rolling pins are made with a cylinder-shaped piece of wood, or other material like ceramic, that has a dowel running through the center of the pin with handles attached at each end.
Why use a French rolling pin?
When using the French rolling pin, you guide the pin with your open palms instead of a tightly a gripped fist, giving you a better sense of the dough’s thickness. The French rolling pin is ideal to shape dough rounds because the tapered shape provides for easy pivoting.
What is a straight rolling pin?
The straight rolling pin is a variation of the French rolling pin the without tapered ends. This wooden dowel allows you to roll the entire surface of your dough at one time with greater consistency than the other pins. The dowel pin is great for heftier doughs like a chilled sugar cookie dough.
What is a textured rolling pin?
The textured rolling pin is an American-style pin that has some sort of patterned etched into the wood or plastic to create a design in the dough. It’s basically a rolling pin stamp. These patterns can range from a few simple lines to intricate snowflakes rolled into the dough. You can also get a customized rolling pin with an inscribed monogram. You can usually find this style of rolling pins in a miniature size specifically used to roll out fondant dough in cake decorating.
Why do you dust a rolling pin with flour?
As noted above, lightly dusting your rolling pin with flour helps prevent dough from sticking to it. When the rolling pin surface is super smooth, as it tends to be with plastic or ceramic pins, it can be more difficult for flour to stick onto the pin.
How to keep a rolling pin in tip top shape?
The best way to keep a wooden rolling pin in tip-top shape is to avoid putting it in the sink or dishwasher. After each use, gently remove any dough residue, and wipe the rolling pin with a damp towel.
Can old school pins be chilled?
With old school glass pins, you can cool them down by filling the pin itself with ice water, or by placing it in the refrigerator until chilled.
These tools can elevate more than your pastry game
Karen is a freelance writer who covers food and drinks, and is a former Executive Chef and VP at Goldman Sachs NYC.
Best Overall: Fox Run Polished Marble Rolling Pin with Wooden Cradle
Marble rolling pins are ideal for flaky, buttery doughs since marble can be prechilled in a fridge or freezer, keeping your dough cold during the rolling. This type of pin usually has excellent heft, and this one from Fox Run is no exception. But in this case, it’s been designed and built to be used by anyone with average strength.
Best Budget: Luxtrip Wood Rolling Pin
A rolling pin can be quite basic and still do the job well, as this wooden 16-inch rolling pin demonstrates.
Best French: Williams Sonoma French Tapered Olivewood Rolling Pin
Sometimes called a French pastry pin, this gorgeous rolling pin has a tapered rod shape made from sustainably sourced olivewood. Made exclusively for Williams Sonoma, this lightweight rolling pin is hand-finished, and the balance feels excellent.
Best Wood: Ateco Professional Barrel Rolling Pin
This traditional baker’s rolling pin is built for the barrel to spin around the handles smoothly on rust-proof steel bearings. Both the 12-inch barrel and 4.5-inch handles are made of hard maple. Those handles are sized well and shaped into a comfortable grip that reduces hand strain.
Best with Guides: Joseph Joseph Adjustable Rolling Pin with Removable Rings
Rolling pins with guides, also called adjustable rolling pins, are a relatively new idea, and they’ve become quite popular. The design concept consists of a dowel-type rolling pin with fitted plastic rings that are placed over the barrel on the ends to assure the production of an overall one-level thickness of pastry.
Best Patterned: Pottery Avenue Embossed Rolling Pin
Specialty rolling pins with patterns embossed on the barrel of the rolling pin are used in many cultures to create designs on cookies, pie doughs, or other pastries.
How to use a rolling pin?
Now that you know the different kinds of rolling pins, this is how to use it properly: 1 Lightly flour the work surface you will be working on to prevent sticking. (Alternatively, place your liner, whether parchment paper, plastic wrap, or silicone mat, on the work surface.) 2 Lightly flour your rolling pin and rub the flour all over ...
What is a French rolling pin?
This is so that the roller can move and roll independently of the handles as it is held firmly in hand. A French rolling pin is a rod without handles. It's basically a long wooden rod with straight sides from end to end and is also known as a dowel. Another kind of French rolling pin is the tapered version.
How to roll out dough with a rolling pin?
2 Lightly flour your rolling pin and rub the flour all over the roller portion of the pin to prevent sticking. 3 Place dough to be rolled out onto the center of the working surface. 4 Place your rolling pin on the center of the dough, with your hands on each end. 5 Roll the pin away from you.
What are the two types of rolling pins?
There are two kinds of rolling pins: the traditional rolling pin and the French dowel. These two rolling pins are different in the shape of the pin. It can also be either a roller or a rod. Here are the two types of rolling pins you may find on the market: The traditional rolling pin has handles on each end while the French rolling pin is ...
What kind of rolling pin is used for round dough?
Another kind of French rolling pin is the tapered version. This is useful for creating and rolling out round or circular pieces of dough since it can easily pivot from its center to create perfectly rolled-out dough rounds. CONTINUE READING BELOW.
What is the difference between a French and a French rolling pin?
The traditional rolling pin has handles on each end while the French rolling pin is a long piece of wood, either straight or tapered. Both are used to roll out dough. A traditional rolling pin is typically a rod with handles on each end to easily grip the rolling pin.
What is the result of rolling out pie dough?
It's a lot of steps to remember and follow, but the methodical process of rolling out dough will result in perfectly lined pie plates, evenly baked pizza crusts, and flakey pastel and chicken pot pie crusts.
What do you use rolling pins for?
Rolling pins are an essential piece of kitchen equipment for a variety of different cooking tasks. You need them to roll out pie dough, puff pastry and cookie dough for cut-out cookies. They can also be used for other kitchen tasks, like crushing nuts, pepper and ice, or tenderizing meat.
What are the properties of a rolling pin?
There are two main properties of a rolling pin that you need to take into consideration – the shape and the material it is made out of – but you will also need to consider what you’ll be using the rolling pin for when picking one out.
What kind of rolling pin should I use for cookie dough?
So what kind of rolling pin should you choose? I would recommend getting both a straight wooden rolling pin and a tapered wooden rolling pin, so you have a solid option both for cookie dough and yeasted dough. Two rolling pins don’t take much more room than one and you’ll be covered for just about any baking project.
What type of rolling pin is best for pastry?
There are three main types of rolling pins: tapered rolling pins, straight (cylindrical) rolling pins and rolling pins with handles. Tapered rolling pins are generally considered to be the best choice for rolling out pastry and yeasted doughs.
Can you taper a dough rolling pin?
You can get a little more aggressive with a dough that might be trying to spring back into place – as many yeasted doughs can do – if you need to be. You don’t want a tapered rolling pin that has an extreme size difference between the center and the edges, a slight taper is just fine.
Can you use a rolling pin without a handle?
They are easy to grip, but can be more difficult to apply pressure with when it comes to rolling out a thick dough. I personally prefer a rolling pin without handles, but they’re hard to beat when it comes to grip comfort and they will similarly to a straight rolling pin without handles.
Can you use a wooden rolling pin?
The majority of rolling pins are wood, but these days it is possible to find them made of metal, marble and silicone, as well. Wood pins are the most traditional and you can’t go wrong with a wooden rolling pin. Wooden rolling pins are neither hot nor cold, and they should hold onto a dusting of flour that will prevent whatever you’re rolling from sticking.
Rolling Pin Styles
The first element to address when you're thinking about rolling pins is shape. All pins will fall into one of two broad categories: handled or handle-less. And within these classes are a few signature shapes worth knowing.
Rolling Pin Materials
You'll find the basic shapes above made with a variety of materials, from marble to silicone. And while it's always nice to try out different options in order to find your favorite, here's an overview of the most common rolling pin materials and what each has to offer.
How To Clean a Wooden Rolling Pin
As I've said, if you're only going to have one rolling pin in the kitchen, you should probably make it a wooden one. Now, given your other options for pin materials, one might think that wooden pins are exceptionally difficult to clean or maintain. However, that's simply not the case.
What to Use Instead of a Rolling Pin
For most home bakers, it's worth having a legitimate rolling pin in the kitchen. However, if you find yourself in a situation without one (say you're trying to bake a pie at an AirBnb), you can use any number of clean, cylindrical items as a substitute. Ideally, the item has a little bit of weight to it.

Types of Rolling Pins
- The rolling pin is one of the most ancient tools in the world of cooking, and despite a thousand innovations, it remains true to itself and its primary use: rolling out dough. It’s a wooden stick that can range in both length and weight. When rolled back and forth, it transforms any type of dough into thin sheets. The simplest rolling pin is made up of a wooden cylinder with two ends, which a…
How to Roll Out Dough with A Rolling Pin
- The correct movement for rolling out dough is simple, but you need a lot of practice to be able to make it perfectly thin. First, flour the rolling pin and a wood or marble work surface so nothing sticks. Then start rolling out the dough, gradually turning it clockwise as it becomes thinner and thinner. To roll with proper technique, begin with your hands together in the center of the rolling …
Mobile Rolling Pins
- While our grandmothers used to roll out dough with a bit of elbow grease and lots of patience, today we have pins that roll on their own, which are very practical and also very affordable. Just grab the handles and let the cylinder roll. These rolling pins come in large, small and extra small sizes; some even have a top handle, ideal for spreading dough out directly in a pan. The smaller …
Alternative Uses For Rolling Pins and Some Special Versions
- Rolling pins are not only used to roll out dough. In fact, many people also use them to crush foods or to decorate. For example, if you want to make a cheesecake crust or you have to chop nuts but you don’t have a food processor, place the ingredients in a large resealable bag, seal it, and crush them with a rolling pin. There are also rolling pins...
Overview
A rolling pin is a cylindrical food preparation utensil used to shape and flatten dough. Two styles of rolling pin are found: rollers and rods. Roller types consists of a thick cylinder with small handles at each end; rod type rolling pins are usually thin tapered batons. Rolling pins of different styles and materials offer varying advantages, as they are used for different tasks in cooking and baking.
Types of rolling pins
• Rod: Thin rods typically made of wood around 1-2 inches (2–3 cm) in diameter. They are used by rolling the rod across the dough using one's palm. The pins may be tapered at one or both ends for more pivot control in certain tasks such as making small jiaozi skins or pie shells. Most East Asian or French style rolling pins, and the Turkish Oklava are rod-style.
Material
Rolling pins come in a variety of sizes, shapes and materials including glass, ceramic, acrylic, bakelite, copper, brass, aluminium, silicone, wood, stainless steel, marble, and plastic. Some are hollow and are able to be filled with cold or warm water to better roll a desired food. Marble rolling pins are often cooled in a refrigerator for maintaining a cold dough while making puff pastry.
In popular culture
An angry housewife wielding a rolling pin as a weapon is a common cliché in humour, as, for example, in the English comic strip Andy Capp.
See also
• Kneading
• Roller docker