I can be a bit of a nag in the kitchen.
I don’t generally care how fancy your butter is, which set of copper measuring cups you use, or if your oven is gas or electric or hamster-wheel-powered. If you’ve been around here for even just a few days, you know that I’m a stickler, a nag, a nuisance, a pest, a finger-wagger about making your own pie crust.
Proof: Five Tips For the Best All-Butter Pie Crust From Scratch
Pie crust requires patience, guts, practice, flour, butter, buttermilk, and a rolling pin. But wait… why are there so many different kinds of rolling pins? Different strokes for different folks. (Is that rolling pin humor?) Let’s discuss the differences. The right rolling pin and you’ll be on your way to pie crust success.
Did someone say pie!? (yes. me. a lot.)
Perhaps this is the most familiar rolling pin to you, the American or ‘baker’s’ rolling pin. A wooden, in this case Maple, center dowel that turns in the center of two handles. You can comfortably curl your fingers around each of the handles, using leverage and arm strength to push the rolling pin forward and back over dough.
Pro: comfortable handles. Great for everything from cookies, biscuits, pizza, and pie.
Con: I’ve found that these rolling pins can be a bit heavy and are slightly less maneuverable that other, handleless options.
Overall, I love this style of rolling pin. It’s comfortable, versatile, classic. If you only have one rolling pin in your kitchen (because you’re a reasonable person), this Maple Rolling Pin is great. Not too large or heavy, making it wonderful for pie crust and other rolling needs.
You may have run across a Tapered or French-style rolling pins and thought… nope, too fancy for me. I did. I was wrong.
French Rolling Pins don’t have handles, so you won’t be grasping at the sides of the rolling pin to push and pull. Instead, you use the heel of your hand to press a French Rolling Pin away from you. Since you aren’t grasping the outside handles, you naturally place your hands, more towards the center of the rolling pin, applying pressing and pressing the dough with more control and intimacy than a rolling pin with handles.
Pro: maneuverability, controlled pressure, more control in general, lightweight.
Con: great for soft bread doughs and pie doughs… not good for a stiff or chilled cookie dough.
Overall, this is a wonderful rolling pin to have.They’re beautiful, simple, and really easy to work with.
Mahogany French Rolling Pin or Food52’s beautiful Tapered Wooden Rolling Pins.
Let’s talk about show-off rolling pins. These are them.
These, personalized laser-cut rolling pins (they totally say Joy the Baker) are for two specific purposes. One: making awesome custom sugar cookies and Two: as decoration on my kitchen shelf.
This is not your pie crust rolling pin. It’s just not.
Maybe it’s your grandmother’s rolling pin. Maybe it’s a great find from that awesome vintage shop you found in Nashville. Either way, a vintage rolling pin is lovely to have… especially if you’re a food stylist who collects various dilapidated wood props.
Did people have smaller hands in the 1940’s? I’m thinking yes. Vintage rolling pins are often smaller than modern rolling pins. This one in particular feels like something between a traditional and a tapered rolling pin.
Pros: way good vibes, and often smaller in size making them great for single pie crusts and food photographs.
Cons: sometimes they’re too small and questionably splintery. These things are hard to ignore, but they’re still lovely to have in the kitchen.
Marble rolling pins are for the aesthetically aware and the laminated dough enthusiasts. These rolling pins are rather heavy in weight but it can be chilled before rolling, making it a great tool for cool-sensitive doughs like puff pastry.
Pro: will hold a chill for the two times you might make puff pastry a year. Two!? Weight of the rolling pin can work for you… less arm pressure. Oh so pretty.
Con: can be heavy and tedious to maneuver, but it’s hard to be mad at a piece of pretty marble.
Overall, a splurge.
To clean a rolling pin, here’s a trick: use a soft bench scraper to scrape any flour and dough bits off the pin then use a clean, damp cloth to wipe the rolling pin. No submerging in water. Don’t even think about the dishwasher.
Update: I love reading your comments below about your favorite, feel-good rolling pins! Tell me tell me! What’s in your kitchen?
Sharon
I use a recipe I received in Home Economics class in high school. I have tried other recipes and my husband keeps telling me to go back to the old recipe. My crust is always nice and thin when I use my wooden rooling pin. I always had problems getting the crust in the pan, bottom and top until I saw Martha Stewart rolling her doough back on the rolling pin . Since then I have never had any problems. I like using the wooden rolling pin and I hate buying things to find out I like the one I had better so I guess I will be making my pies with the old wooden rolling pin until I make my last pie. Now if I see one at a thrift store I might give it a try. Call me frugal… I have an apple pie in the oven right now so I am not sure if I can get a photo on later but I do make my pie crust and fillings from scratch. Enjoy your pies ladies and gentlemen…
Sydney
I did not know there were that many different types of rolling pins. I only have the basic wooden kind, but when it comes to making cookies in such an extreme amount like I do around Christmas, maybe I should think about getting myself a marble rolling pin!
Tom Something
I’m glad you specified that the marble rolling pin has to be _chilled_ to work its laminated-dough magic. A lot of people with substantial audiences insist that marble is simply “colder” than wood, as like an inherent trait. You and I both know that’s not the case. For the same reason that room-temperature marble feels colder than room temperature wood to our hands, that marble will feel warmer than wood if you’re a slab of chilled, laminated dough. And you’ll express that feeling by letting all your fat go soft, turning yourself into brioche dough and giving that fancy rolling pin a big greasy kiss.
Same with stone countertops. I’ve seen people insist that they’re better for laminated dough. Not if you don’t chill your countertop, you know?
Mary Ann
Using commercial puff pastry. Using a vintage wooden rp. Can’t roll dough thin enough. Could it be the rp? Should I try a metal rp that I have?
Michelle Presley
I have the old
Fashioned wooden with handles and a marble one with a wooden stand it sets in. I Love love love it. I have a French one on the way. And I bake my own pie shells cuz they are the way to go from apple pie pecan pie shepards pie that’s the only way to make a pie is home made crust.
Julie
What about a heavy metal rolling pin with handles?
Beck
I have my Nan’s porcelain one that is like the top one with a wooden central handle. It’s beautiful if you need a light touch, however I’m a firm believer in my marble one for most of the work.
Barbara
Oh dear oh dear. I’ve got them all and then some. Apart from one which I really must get. I’ve got them stacked on the wall in easy reach: My grandma’s at the top, of course. Then a lasered one for pretty cookies, a french pin which is my day to day go to, one with different sized ends to screw on so I can get dough thickness just right, and a maple and cherry one that is just pretty. Despite all these, I really do need a marble one. I make laminated pastry a lot more than a couple of times a year, and we don’t have air conditioning. Fortunately there is still one place left on my pin holder. lols.
Kim
I have never been so jealous of someone.
?
CeGeRider
I am now convinced that I need the French tapered rolling pin. Now to decide whether I want walnut or maple. Thank you for this blog. We are both happy bakers. You are Joy and I am Gaye (middle name). I have a very specialized baking pin for rolling out dough for Springerle cookies. Oddly enough it came from the now out of business company called “Spingerly Joy”. I wish I could post a picture. It is a dark brown very heavy composit material made to look like wood and it has handles. It is covered with rows of squares, each with an intricate picture that is a replica of an original hand carved wooden Springerle mold made in the 1800s. I use it to make our traditional Christmas cookies. It is worth Googling Springerle cookies.
eric hamblin
Typical, I suppose, of a man, I posess a french rolling pin, a marble rp, a home made wooden rp (I made it with a slight taper at each end rather like an overweight french rp) and a standard plain old wooden rp. The marble rp is kept in the fridge. Today, making croissants, I believe I used all the rp’s at different times; just to give them some exercise, I guess. I think the french rp beats them all for its manoeverability. I can wheel it around like Mazeratti on the track and, as I made it myself, it feels good in my hands. Now, if the results of my efforts were as edible as my rp’s are beautiful, I would be a happy man!
Stephanie
I’ve always had a marble pin, because of the prettiness, but I was happily surprised at the idea tho chill it for puff pastry! Never crossed my mind!
joythebaker
Perfect!
Jessica Jackson
Besides the con of the heaviness of the marble, is there a reason to choose a wooden one over a marble one for bread or pie crusts? I would imagine the chilling could help with pie crusts in particular.
Tom
Should the handles on a standard rolling pin be fixed to the pin or be able to rotate?
joythebaker
I find it easiest to use when the handles rotate.
Shireen
I use a cold full wine bottle from the refrigerator door…but am thinking about trying the tapered french one after reading your excellent post!
Shelley Halik
I have a beautiful glass rolling pin that can be filled with ice water for rolling pie crusts. It was my Granny’s and I love it. She made the best apple pies and I used to help her when I was visiting. Great memories there.
Stan
Thanks Joy! I’m shopping for a rolling pin for my wife and didn’t know where to start. This was perfect, thank you.
August
I have three rolling pins. the first is a traditional American rolling pin with the two handles. My wife loves it. Me, not so much. I have a wooden French pin that I really like. It is versatile, but my wife hates it and will not use it. I also have a marble pin. Oh my! A joy to work with for the right thing. It is not for everything. . My wife says we have to get rid of one of them and has the marble one in a bag to give away. I am said, but she won’t use it, I have my French pin, and she has her traditional pin. What I don’t like about the traditional pin is that it gets rusty at the spindle and cannot be kept clean and sanitary. So, stick with the French I will and she will use her traditional pin, probably passed down from her mother.
Shinta
I’m thinking of making my own traditional rolling pins right now, with 20 inches of lenght. Should be wonderfull ????
Elizabeth
Thank you so much. Your advice has given me the exact information I need. I will be subscribing to your blog. :)
Cheryl Jones
I had to make fifty (yes 5-0) gingerbread houses for a friendship group last year. Big batches of dough that needed to be rolled to a specific thickness. The engineer in me woke up and headed down to the local hardware shop, bought 2 pieces of wood 10mm x 5mm x70cm. and a thick round dowel 70 cm long. I put the 2 flat pieces on the left and right and rolled the dough between them with the dowel. It worked like a dream – 50 gingerbread houses with the thicknesses all the same! And 50 happy ladies :)
Bee Gianni
Your Baking 101 tutorials are so very informative and helpful. I hope you plan on offering more tips and tricks. Thank you.
ulla
I have a confession to make. While I bake a lot, I actually don’t own a rolling pin. That just… happened.
For a few years now, I’ve been using a bottle of white wine of questionable origin and even more questionable content. I’ll never know. It turned out to be perfect: all smooth, heavy, easy to rinse, and very controllable (is that a word?).
So, no dedicated rolling pin for me. (Wrong! I’d never dream of using a different pin, err, bottle!)
joythebaker
I love it, way to get creative!
frabjus
I use a Maple French Style Rolling Pin my husband Hand-Turned on his lathe. I love all the ribbon grains in the wood.
We also started selling them recently in our store Lady and the Carpenter. Looking for a few bloggers interested in trying one out and publishing a review. You interested?
Tu Doan
Hi there, I’m really interested in baking. Recently, I’m going to a school for that. Now, I’m looking for a rolling pin for working with the dough. Could you please tell me where could I buy a French rolling pin? I live in Toronto,Canada. Thank you and look forward your answer. :)
arundati
if you’re ever in India, you should check out the range we have…. each region produces their own unique kind, some ridged, decorative, fat, thin, heavy and light, you would love it!
Kerry
I have both a marble and a wood rolling pin. But the one I love the most is a metal and plastic one that my daughters received in a cooking kit. Often, after fighting with a hunk of dough, I will fish it out of their play kitchen, wash it up, and get the job done. It’s the right weight, keeps the temp cool without chilling, and very maneuverable.
Brett
What are your thoughts on the “beer bottle roller”? Small, compact, versatile, can be chilled, oh! and the best part, you can drink the contents when done!
Cy
My sister bought me a wooden one years ago for a gift and I love it. It’s actually even, not tapered at all and I find that it’s easy to get an even result. I remember my moms old metal one with the handles, seems like the dough would stick to it more easily, but I wasn’t really savvy to all the tricks of baking then. I could have chilled it in the fridge. It was pink and was well loved and used. I don’t know what happened to it, they don’t seem to make the metal ones anymore. Thanks for the tutorial, very informative!
Cy
I love your Sunday posts! I just want to say I have new found empathy for my postal carrier , whom I speak to often. She kind of talks my ear off and I have to rush by her when I’m on my way somewhere otherwise I won’t be on time, but she has helped me often. I hope to god your parents never experienced what the author of that article has! There always seems to be this assumption, that the money and benefits are pretty good. Plus we always hear how government workers get away with so many extras. Anyway eye opening! Still making my way through the rest of the post.
Karen
i got a beautiful rolling pin as a very thoughtful Christmas present a few years ago from Anthropologie. I think it’s stoneware. I love how pretty it is and swear it works better than my old wood rolling pin. It makes me happy every time I use it. I find myself rolling out dough with my hands on the pin, rather than the handles, more often than not. Maybe I should give the French rolling pin a go.
Chrissy
I have a traditional and a French/vintage. My grandmother’s French style rolling pin is about 3 feet long, and I keep it next to my bed as my night weapon. I live in Chicago, night weapons are a thing and a rolling pin provides the WTH is that surprise factor.
Emily
I use my Grandma’s old wooden traditional rolling pin. It’s shiny from decades of rolling buttery crusts and doughs :) Major good vibes when I use it.
Eleni
I’m about 50/50 for the traditional and the handle-less. The time I prefer the handle-less is when I’m rolling dough really thin, because if I use a traditional rolling pin my knuckles wind up scraping the counter and it makes me crazy!
My mom has a few traditional Greek rolling pins used to roll dough extremely thin for pitas such as spanakopita. It’s a pretty cool method, actually. The rolling pins are very long, and about 1/4″-1/2″ in diameter.
Leslie Helston
Am heafing to New Orlwans ovet Christmas. Joy, any suggestions for foodie stores/restaus… Might be in the market for a tapered rolling pin after reading this post!
Stephanie in Corralitos
My grandmother gave me HER rolling pin as a wedding gift in 1987. It’s just like the maple rolling pin you linked above, but it’s from the 1940’s and the paint (lead based???) is very worn from lots of use. The barrel is soft and smooth from years of pie crust and biscuit making. It’s one of my prized possessions.
Meghan
This is super helpful as I am working on my wedding registry right now and honestly had no clue what type of rolling pin to list. There are multiple types available in certain stores! But after seeing this, I think either the traditional or the French rolling pin is the right one for me.
Also – I have never seen a laser cut rolling pin before! They’re definitely very pretty to look at. :)
J
This is where I quietly glance at my ‘rolling pin’ and thank it for its re-purposed service during my poor, education filled years. (It once contained wine. Two-buck Chuck, to be precise.)
Sweet Tea Sweetie
Great review! I always just grab a wine bottle.
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
Joann
My prized rolling pin is on my Albanian friend gave me. It was the one she used to roll out pastry for baklava, amongst others. It is longer and thinner than a French one and brings back such wonderful memories of our time together.
Sandra
I still use the traditional rolling pin my father bought for me before I got married 50+ years ago. I have made many, many pies with it.
lisafromappalachia
This is a great marble rolling pin on Amazon. It comes with a nice wooden base which allows me to display the pretty pin when i’m not using it and it’s only $16.99!
https://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-Brands-Marble-Rolling/dp/B0000VLPAS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449881882&sr=8-1&keywords=marble+rolling+pins+for+baking
cindy
I use a french rolling pin (found it in the discount section of Ross years ago, HA).
Kate
I have a French rolling pin which I use for everything. It feels so good in my hands as I’m rolling. I do own a traditional one, I just never seem to use it!
The Capable Student
I have always loved the simplicity of the French rolling pin.
czelazek
I have a lovely rosewood rolling pin, bought from the guy who made it in Mexico. I got to choose from several pieces of wood to pick the grain I liked. Makes me happy every time I use it.
Kendra
I don’t really care for the traditional pin because I find you have to be careful with the pressure as to not break the handles off (been there, done that). I recently found a hand carved pin (for $3) that looks like the vintage one you have pictured, and it is by far my favorite pin to date. That said, my manfriend bought me a marble pin at an estate sale that I am yet to try so the jury is still out on that one!
Emily Crittenden
I have a 50’s Folley rolling pin and my great grandmas rolling pin :)
Nikki
What about metal pins?
Nicole Vargas
Hi!!
What about the new rolling pins that have rings to control the dough. They have rings that allow you to make the perfect thickness to pie, cookies and fondant and it comes in a variety of colors. I have a Joseph Joseph wooden rolling pin and love it! Because sometime when I’m in a rush I made it too thin or too thick.
Thank you!! Love you article
Allysa
any thoughts on the rolling pin wrapped in silicone? My mom bought me one and, to be frank, I sort of hate it. I feel like things stick to it more than the traditional rolling pin.
Katie
Found a hollow plastic one where the end of one handle screwed off to allow you to fill it with ice cubes and water for a chilled pin. 20¢ from the thrift shop! It did the job for a poor student baker :)
DucksoupSD
I have my mom’s aluminum roller that also unscrews at one end for a cold (or hot?) roller. I’m tracking down an o-ring (#131) so it can seal again.
Considering The Radish
I tried a french rolling pin for the first time last year, and I now own two. It feels like a more intuitive way to roll dough. Although I must say, that marble one is a stunner.
joythebaker
I feel like they’re very intuitive as well!
Pat Smith
Oh, forgot to say that my ’50s RP has ball bearings so it spins like mad — very effective entertainment for young nieces and nephews! And me!
Thanks for reading!
Pat
Christine
Hey Pat that sounds like an awesome rolling pin!!!
Ann Uphill
My most prized possession is my marble rolling pin left to me by my grandfather. It makes my heart happy just to hold it and when I use it I miss him less.
joythebaker
I understand completely!
findingmykd
I just inherited my grandmother’s marble rolling pin this year, and making an apple pie for Christmas like we used to do together was exactly what I needed.
Pat Smith
Hello . Happy New Year! I am not a baker, but subscribe to king arthur’s newsletter for their chocolate and for a friend who is a master baker… Linked over to your website, interested in your rolling pin discourse. Interesting indeed! Enjoyed the discussion. I have used a rolling pin maybe 7 times in my lifetime. Once every ten years or so… My rolling pin? To the absolute horror of my baker friends who visit and for some reason NEED a rolling pin, is my precious pink rubber (no stick, anyway) RP with turquoise handles that my Mom gave me when I THOUGHT I was a budding baker. You know how everyone brags about their grandmother’s and mother’s pie crust or cakes? Not me. Sorry, Charlie. My mother used a rolling pin, say, twice that I remember. Maybe I am selling her short, but she was very good at going to the Swiss and Dutch bakers we had in our little town to get things they baked remarkably well.!! Both my grandmothers had full-time cooks and were never in their kitchens except to plan menus! I try. I really try to be baker, but pity those who have to eat my baked goods, except for my great brownies and chocolate chip cookies for which no one needs a rolling pin. As I am into more form than function, my beacon of the ’50s RP has served me well and just amaze my young nieces who covet it. Guess what? One of them will get it someday! Thanks for the gift ideas. But will my dear baker friends really want a personalized laser RP? Time will tell.
Signed, “No flour on my fingers!”
Pat Smith
Sacramento, California
spiffycookie
My dad has a “vintage” rolling pin that my uncle made for him years ago. He is supposed to be making me one soon, which would be great since mine just broke! Which reminds me, you forgot one: the silicone rolling pins! That’s what I had and I thought it was a solid cylinder until I broke the dang thing. It was light and easy to use.
joythebaker
You’re right the silicone rolling pin. They don’t feel very intuitive to me so I’ve never worked with one.
Bonnie Arnold
My dad made my rolling pin for me! It’s like the French without the tapering. I love it! It’s the best for pie crust. Super maneuverable and the right amount of weight. Made out of Ash. Right before Thanksgiving I rolled out six crusts no problem!
Melissa Berry
It’s funny, people don’t really think of kitchen tools as actual tools for specific jobs, but that’s exactly what they are. And then they wonder why they fail when they try and roll a pie crust out with a fondant roller. Haha. (Totally speaking from experience, there.) I have been a bit intimidated by French pins, but I think you’ve convinced me to give one a shot…and now I’m sure I need a marble pin for my first attempt at puff pastry!
Kate
my rolling pin is an old wine bottle. mostly because it was what was handy the first time I needed one. is glass a terrible medium to use?
joythebaker
i respect it!
ethnopopgirl
What about the synthetic materials rolling pin? I have one – got it because (like marble) I can chill it or freeze it but without the weight. I often have mixed feelings, though.
Ashlyn @ The Pedantic Foodie
What a great post! I loved reading all your tips, Joy! I’ve got a marble rolling pin on my Christmas list this year!
thecraftymann
I have a marble pin that my Mom and I found at a thrift store for $3, and I LOVE it. I guess maybe I should get a wooden one since I do love baking my pie crusts from scratch! I hadn’t even thought about that since my marble pin seems to do fine and I still get pretty flaky crusts.
joythebaker
definitely go with what feels good to you! you’re doing everything right!
Judy
can’t copy this article and some of your recipes like I used to
Famidha
Mine falls under the vintage one! which I was thinking is the traditional.. Time to go for shopping I guess! :-P
jo
Apparently there is a “round” rolling pin for rolling chapati, roti and the like. At least that’s what my husband tells me! I scrolled through your post looking for one….maybe they don’t exist and the joke is on me!
MZ
I’ve always seen roti and chapatis rolled with the vintage or traditional pin by my mother and in other households.
wot
The rolling pin isn’t round but the board you use the rolling pin on is like a round little stool. You can find on Amazon.