Call it pastryphobia: fear of pie crust. Many cooks, including this one, suffer from it from time to time. Having the right rolling pin at hand alleviates some of the symptoms.
But what, exactly, is the right rolling pin? Some cooks like the traditional handled pin, beloved of cartoonists’ irate wives in hot pursuit of errant husbands. Others prefer the dowel like European style. To distinguish between the two, we’ll call the kind with handles a rolling pin, and the European style a dough pin. Either can do an excellent job.
We tested pins of both types, making double batches of the basic pastry recipe from “The Good Eating Cookbook” and rolling out two pie crusts with each pin.
We found that a pin with a heavier weight, to a point, was a good thing. The dough rolled out with fewer passes, which preserved pastry tenderness. However, too much of a good thing is possible: The marble rolling pin we tested was so heavy that it was hard to use.
Some rolling pins now boast ergonomic handles, shaped to fit your hands more easily, and which are designed to return to their starting position automatically. We found no particular benefit–and some irritations–with them; the handles were never quite where we needed them to be. In the end, our favorites (one of each type) had innovative features but didn’t stray far from the classic designs.
And the winners are …
Sil-Pin rolling pin: $40-$50 at Sur La Table stores in Chicago and Naperville or surlatable.com, and Chef’s Catalog (black only) in Chicago and Highland Park or chefscatalog.com. The sleekly handsome, 3-pound, 7-ounce rolling pin has a silicone coating that makes it easy to clean. It comes in black as well as a variety of bright colors. It is just the right weight to make the job quick and easy; we rolled out a 10-inch round in just five passes. The pin is counterbalanced, and rolls smoothly on stainless-steel ball bearings. Hand wash.
Chef Station tapered dough pin: $40 in red, white or blue from Sur La Table or surlatable.com. Chilling this solid-aluminum pin for just 15 minutes helps it keep the dough cool as you work it–another key to flaky, tender crust. At 2.2 pounds, it has a nice heft too. Top-rack dishwasher-safe.
Others tested:
Rolling pins: Kitchen-Aid, OXO Good Grips, Target, Vic Firth.
Dough pin: Vic Firth
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rjenkins@tribune.com
