$80 vs $12 rolling pins

[DanM]

I was at Sur La Table the other day picking up a few things and saw a French made boxwood baton style rolling pin for a whopping $79.95! I decided that the $11.95 beechwood baton rolling pin is perfectly fine for my needs.

http://www.surlatable.com/product/kitchenb...+20%26%2334-.do

Is there REALLY a difference between the two, or is this just silly?

Dan

[paulraphael]

Is there REALLY a difference between the two, or is this just silly?

When people ask about your $80 French pin, all you have to say is, "that's how I roll."

[prasantrin]

I was at Sur La Table the other day picking up a few things and saw a French made boxwood baton style rolling pin for a whopping $79.95! I decided that the $11.95 beechwood baton rolling pin is perfectly fine for my needs.

http://www.surlatable.com/product/kitchenb...+20%26%2334-.do

Is there REALLY a difference between the two, or is this just silly?

Dan

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Other than in the type of wood which would play a part in the higher cost, you mean? You can get a cubic zirconia ring much more cheaply than a diamond ring, too. Is there a difference? Some people would be satisfied with a Seiko, while others prefer Patek Philippe.

In terms of usage, there probably isn't a difference. But in terms of silliness, that would be a very subjective.

My baton-style rolling pin was from the Y100 store. Don't know what kind of wood it is, but it's only 8% the cost of your pin (1% of the boxwood), while your pin is 15% the cost of the boxwood one.

[Talat_kas]

I was at Sur La Table the other day picking up a few things and saw a French made boxwood baton style rolling pin for a whopping $79.95! I decided that the $11.95 beechwood baton rolling pin is perfectly fine for my needs.

http://www.surlatable.com/product/kitchenb...+20%26%2334-.do

Is there REALLY a difference between the two, or is this just silly?

Dan

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Not much difference in the way they work. But considering the fact wooden rolling pin has a higher manufacturing cost and to further add to this, it is also French made .

But I would be more than happy to to save some bucks and go for the with with a price tag of $11.95

[tim]

Hi,

When my wife's MAPLE rolling pin warped, I got her a comparable $12 silicone pin at TJ Maxx. It is excellent, doesn't stick and doesn't warp.

I'll use the savings to plant a small boxwood in my yard.

Tim

[paulraphael]

Or how about French, wood, and $7.00?

I have one like this.

[Edward J]

There are differences.

Many of the cheap baton style pins use poorly seasoned wood, or softer wood. Cheap ones will obviously split or warp with strong humidty changes--which is not so uncommon in a kitchen. That being said, a $80.00 price tag is no guarantee of quality

Making your own rolling pin (baton style, without the handles or ball bearings) isn't rocket science and if you have access to a wood lathe it would only take you an hour or so to make. Many community colleges and night schools have classes on wood turning. Cost for the wood is under $10

I pointed out the above comments to a poster on another website a few years back who lamented that she could only find a $90.00 cone with handle--the type used to roll ice cream cones and the like, at restaurant supply stores. Obviously she couldn't justify the price with something so simple. The poster's spouse now dislikes me very much, I have her hooked on woodworking......

[dougal]

Ignoring labels for a moment, what is the pro opinion regarding the usefulness of shaft and bearing rolling pins, which are rather more expensive than most simple lumps of wood)?

I've seen these with marble and silicone rollers, and wondered if they might be helpful to my stumbling occasional progress with pastry.

So, what are the experiences and the prejudices?

[Edward J]

I've got a monster commercial maple rolling pin, with sealed bearnings and rubberized handle grips. It's still in the garage, collecting dust....

O.K. to be fair, I "cheat" quite a bit at work, by using a table-top dough sheeter, this does most of the gruntwork. I prefer using the baton style pin because I have much more contol over the pin, using my palms to move the pin. With the handle type I'm pushing down with my shoulders and moving it forward with my arms. I feel I have less control over the my work this way, and also feel I work too hard for the same results I can get with a baton style pin.

Curious to see how others feel about this

[AmbrosiaFood]

I've got a monster commercial maple rolling pin, with sealed bearnings and rubberized handle grips.  It's still in the garage, collecting dust....

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I have several different lengths and sizes of commercial maple Thorpe rolling pizes and I use them all the time.

Love those pins!

[Lisa Shock]

I've bought a lot of kitchen tools over the years, and the wooden ones have been some of the most challenging. Essentially, I have found that the cheaper items have tended to be made of soft wood, like pine, that tends to dry out, splinter and shred. (You must have seen an ugly cutting board at some point.)

I got really lucky years ago in purchasing, from a charity, a hardwood cutting board which is still center-stage in my home kitchen. I have never done anything to maintain it other than wash it after use. It's a bit scarred, but it's still very shiny and beautiful after 24 years of use.

I also managed to grab th one tiger-maple, tapered french rolling pin out of a bin of pine rolling pins at a now defunct mall-based Kitchen shop for a dollar, in 1982. It has outlasted several soft wood rolling pins.

I now only purchase wooden items that are made from hardwoods (for lasting items) or bamboo (for cheaper disposable if necessary items.) You might want to shop around on price, or wait for a discount coupon (SLT sends me coupons every once in a while) but, I would definitely side with the more expensive one, in this case. It should easily outlast 3-4 of the cheaper ones and need less care.

[prasantrin]

Ignoring labels for a moment, what is the pro opinion regarding the usefulness of shaft and bearing rolling pins, which are rather more expensive than most simple lumps of wood)?

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I vaguely remember Fine Cooking or Cook's Illustrated (I think the former) did a thing on rolling pins, and they suggested the shaft and bearing pins were better for a specific purpose (but I cannot remember what that purpose was. . . ).

[Kerry Beal]

Ignoring labels for a moment, what is the pro opinion regarding the usefulness of shaft and bearing rolling pins, which are rather more expensive than most simple lumps of wood)?

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I vaguely remember Fine Cooking or Cook's Illustrated (I think the former) did a thing on rolling pins, and they suggested the shaft and bearing pins were better for a specific purpose (but I cannot remember what that purpose was. . . ).

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Issue 81 - Fine Cooking - suggests the ball bearing type is better for bread dough where you need the muscle, whereas the french tapered pin is better for the soft high fat pastry dough.

[prasantrin]

Issue 81 - Fine Cooking - suggests the ball bearing type is better for bread dough where you need the muscle, whereas the french tapered pin is better for the soft high fat pastry dough.

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Wow! You have a much better memory than I! I tried to look online for it after, but couldn't find it, and I was thinking what I posted was really of no help at all. Thanks for posting it!

[OliverB]

I'd consider $80 for a piece of wood silly, no matter what. I have a cheap wooden pin but one of the handles started to come off. While at Sur La Table for something else I came by their rolling pins and picked up a "french style tapered" one with silicone, figuring the non stick will be neat. Once I unboxed the thing at home the kitchen filled with the acrid smell of rubber (or plastic?) and the idea of rolling that into my dough was not appealing. I don't remember the brand of the pin, but the particular I had also got low ratings on Amazon, where people posted that it actually broke on them. I went back and got a wooden Vic Firth for about $20 or so. Only used it once but was very happy with it. I might get a non-tapered one someday too, but have little interest in those with ball bearings and what not. And while silicone usually has no smell, the stinky one will keep me away from all the other offerings by the same company (fiesta, just looked them up on Amazon).

Just my 2ct, and I don't bake much, though I plan on starting to bake my own bread, as bread prices seem to go up and up. Of course, my kids love English muffins, which you have to put in a pan first before baking. They can't just go for something simple ;-)

[pnwradar]

Making your own rolling pin (baton style, without the handles or ball bearings) isn't rocket science and if you have access to a wood lathe it would only take you an hour or so  to make.  Many community colleges and night schools have classes on wood turning.  Cost for the wood is under $10

My local woodworking store sells 36" long 1-1/2" hardwood (oak, maple, cherry, walnut) dowels for $10. 2-1/2" diameter dowels are $25 for a 30" length. Any decent (non-warehouse) hardware store sells them. They'll probably cut it to the length you want, free.

-jon-

[paulraphael]

I use the French Dowel type for everything. It's about 2' long, beechwood, and cheap. I like the simplicity.

But I notice that with this kind of roller, as you roll out dough you're also rolling out the flesh on your hands. When I use it a lot, I get a strange "over-massaged" feeling ... hands get red and tingly. Anyone else noticed this?

No big deal for me, but I can see this causing problems for someone rolling out dough many hours a day.

[abooja]

I use the French Dowel type for everything. It's about 2' long, beechwood, and cheap. I like the simplicity.

But I notice that with this kind of roller, as you roll out dough you're also rolling out the flesh on your hands. When I use it a lot, I get a strange "over-massaged" feeling ... hands get red and tingly. Anyone else noticed this?

I have experienced this, particularly with blocks of cold, straight-from-the-fridge shortbread and pie doughs. I know you're supposed to wait a few minutes for such doughs to warm up ever so slightly, but it's sometimes more efficient to work a cold dough than wait for that temperature sweet spot to roll around, only to quickly pass and be too warm. The few times I have done this, my palms have paid the price.