I made my Christmas cookies for the first time on my new granite this year and it was wonderful. No problems with flour, dough sticking, etc., and clean-up was a breeze. I am very happy with my granite!

Christmas menu...... 3 batches of sugar cookies. 3 loaves of bread..... it is never an issue.

Where does this concern come from?

So...do you just roll directly on the granite? I.e, sprinkle granite w/flour and then roll...no board?

Wait- I just made several dozen loaves of sweet yeast bread. While rolling out, dough stuck like crazy until I put down my Tupperware mat.

What am I doing wrong?

I've rolled out pizza dough right on my granite counter. Put down a little flour and you're all set.

The concern comes a little from the unknown and the issue of flour getting in the pores and how well the rolling will go. My DW puts flour down to avoid sticking and all it well but she is a little concered. So if there are any issues I would like to hear about them and I like all the positives so far.

Just to clarify, my granite is polished, very smooth and doesn't have any pits. Don't know what happens if you have pitted granite.

I always did "dough work" directly on my polished Silestone counter. Honed marble is the traditional surface for dough work. Do you know what kind of granite you might be getting? And what type of finish? Don't know about pits or "pores" and how they might change things...

Francy

I rolled out cookies on my granite and it worked great. I though the flour was more effective on granite than on laminate, it seemed to spread thinner and stay in place better on the granite. I wonder if the concern stems from the fact that some people believe that since granite is porous it can harbor bacteria? There are even stories about mold growing on the underside of granite. However, my understanding is that those stories are just urban myths.

The granite we have looked at is polished and smooth not sure amount the amount of pits?

Yes for sure the growth of "stuff" is a concern but maybe an urban legend but was not sure of how easy granite was to cleanup?

I rolled out cinnamon rolls on our honed AB. Lots of flour on the counter. Had to scrape them off and trash them. :-( Throwing out cinnamon rolls in painful...

Wow, I would be interested to hear the stone guys weigh in on this one. I am a geologist, and granites are NOT porous. Yes, there may be pits, but it's just a surface thing--no way does it go all the way into the core of you slab. And stuff growing on granite? Yikes, I guess lichen grows on rocks in nature, but if you have lichen in your kitchen, it would probably grown on Silestone or Corian too. My tumbled limestone shower grows some funky mildew stuff, but limestone is organic and a pain to clean (wish that had occurred to me before I bought that tile). Granite, not even close.

I do dough work all the time on my stone counters (pits and all) - been doing so for years. Cold stone makes a wonderful surface for rolling dough and kneeding bread. Easy clean up, too!

Teched, your comments resonated with me.
Thank you.
I am an unashamed granite guy. The solid surface guys have been using the "stuff grows in pores" routine for so long. Look at the granite in nature with moss and stuff growing on it.......uggh. One lady at my church doing an addition right now put engineered stone in the kitchenette because the kitchen place told her granite was the hardest to keep clean, mold grows overnight, and it would crack easily. Again.....ugggh.

About bread and stuff, Coldstone Creamery uses granite. Marble has been the surface of choice in bakeries for centuries.

Oh no, and they probably sold her that stuff with Bactro Ban or whatever in it! I was going to put engineered stone in my kids' bath, but the granite was less expensive and so much more elegant looking (hey, even kids appreciate it!). Toothpaste "grows" on the granite, but so far no mold or green stuff.

Paulines-
Judging by your pics - I'd guess that your stone
is Giallo Veneziano - looks to me like Fiorito in the
top pic... but the bottom pic looks closer to
Classico..... am I right?

I have always told my customers that are leaning
towards Baltic Brown and/or any other stones with a
more course crystal structure, that they may need
to do a little more clean up after the roll their doughs
and such....

Otherise, like my Brutha VRJames said - I say - ditto....

BTW - Paulines - WOW - what cool looking stuff you made!!!
What are the hours of your restaraunt &
can I make a reservartion???? ;-)

kevin

Kevin M. Padden MIA SFA
Fanricator, Trainer & Consultant to the Natural Stone Industry
www.azschoolofrock.com

I could use one of those pie-lettes this morning Paulines! They look great!

I rolled out my pie crust dough on my granite-topped island in November, and don't recall having any problems.

The other day I made my MIL's pierogi recipe (first time, by myself!) and found the dough to be very sticky and a real PIA with which to work. I kept sprinkling flour on the counter, and on the rolling pin, but not much help. Checked with MIL yesterday, and she said the dough shouldn't have been sticky, so I prob needed to add more flour to it (right from the start). Will try that next time, and see if it makes a diff (because you can never have too many homemade pierogi!!!).

Will try to post pics of the finished product later!

Party at Paulines!

OK, now I am hungry! ;-) Beautiful pastries Pauline! I can smell them now....

I had never heard about granite "growing" things until my MIL made a comment to my DH when he told her we had ordered granite for our kitchen. She asked if we had made a deposit on it & when he said 'no', she immediately said 'GOOD!...it is not too late to cancel it & order Silstone' because of the germ growth on granite...blah blah blah.

Sigh, well I guess we are big 'risk takers' because we ordered the granite anyway. ;-)

I figured it was some type of sales pitch she had heard at a home show or something...although I never asked.

We have been rolling out all sorts of doughs on our granite counters for 12 years. We haven't died yet. No worries at all here about the "bad crud growing in the pits" myth. And that's all it is too. A myth. Put enough flour down so the doughs won't stick to the surface. Did that even when we didn't have our granite. Granite makes for easy clean up also. To make our counters colder, we fill a large sized baggie with some water. Lay it flat on the bottom shelf of the freezer. When it is frozen we take it out and lay it on the counter surface. Keeping things cold is the trick to making good doughs. Bowls, beaters, ingredients, all cold. Great pictures Paulines,YUM! NancyLouise

I had a lady in my showroom about 2 years ago tell me directly that in her bathroom remodel she was putting ceramic in the shower and stone everywhere else because the stone she has now was harboring mold and mildew. She was told by "someone" stone causes the problem.

I was dumbfounded by the comment. When I tried to politely say mold and mildew were a cleaning problem, not a mwaterial issue, she would hear none of it and got offended.

"stuff" growing is a cleanliness issue, whether in the shower or the kitchen. No matter the material choice.

I wouldn't worry too much about stuff on the granite as long as you keep it clean. I don't have granite yet (installed in 2 weeks!) but I do have a marble board (polished) and pin(unpolished), that are amazing for baking. I would think that the granite would be similar since it also stays nice and cool. I find the marble is pretty easy to clean too just wipe down. Paulines, the pastries and Challah look so yummy!!

Well, VRJames, to be fair, stuff growing in the shower is also a ventilation/humidity issue, though if one is a good cleaner it gets gone before it has a chance to grow very far. :) I am SO amazed by this discussion!! Why would someone rather have resin impregnated with poison than stone? Rather than plastic, I get... I'm not convinced that I want stone...for other than the baking center.

Re sticky doughs, I've never found anything better than a thoroughly flour impregnated baking cloth, with loose flour on top. The problem with rolling it right on the stone is that the stone doesn't catch the flour and it gets sucked up immediately by the dough. That's why a bread board is also useful :)

BTW, I was taught that yeast won't rise in a sterile environment. There have to be free molds in the air. Not toxic ones :) Just normal beery, yeasty, kitcheny ones.

I really do not want to get much further off track, but that was my point about molds and stuff, they require a certain "environment" and do not grow on stone just because it is stone. It will grow on anything in the right environment.

To the OP, enjoy the counters and use them like you would anything else.

Blessings

You don't have to worry about anything growing on the granite. The radon that the granite emits will kill it :-)

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PLEASE, PLEASE do not open that can of worms again Weissman, I nearly got banned last time.

Party's at 8 pm, you're all invited ~ what are we drinking, lol?

Hi Kevin. The stone is resined Typhoon Green and between daughters and their very hungry boyfriends, it seems the restaurant never closes.

Fantastic tip NancyLouise!

canuck99, seriously, I'm a bit o/c when it comes to cleanliness. I have no qualms whatsoever about doing dough work directly on the counters. Find a knowledgable fabricator, a good quality stone (resined if applicable) and like vrjames writes... enjoy!

LOL Weissman!

Me too, vrjames ~ we're baaad!

sorry, vrjames - I couldn't resist.

well you guys go to Paulines, I am going to Cat_mom's for pierogi.

as far as the bacteria thing - I think the quartz industry has done a remarkable job of promoting their product as antibacterial and granite as a nasty bacteria harboring thing. doesn't mean WE have to believe them, just that they've done a good job making everyone else believe it. lol

You guys crack me up! hehe I got to roll out Christmas cookies and pie dough for the first time on my giallo veneziano since it was not installed this time last year. well, actually my brilliant but not so much a baker college DD rolled out the cookies and pie dough- and no sticking. It used to stick like crazy to the laminate- not matter how much flour I used.
BTW they turned out not as pretty as Paulines pielets and challah, but Tasty !
Clean up was a breeze. The granite is so pretty. Love my granite :) Sue

Hey Paulines-

As long as we are all going OT:
How about that little that Solid Surface guy
who considers himself a Granite expert -
I think his name is "Ray Don Baker" ??? HA! LOL

Isn't he the Obnixious Little Brother...of the actor BIG "Joe Don Baker"...???
Ya know... Joe Don was the guy who starred in the 1973 movie "Walking Tall" -
(the original flick) that inspired 2007's "Walk Hard"...

I've heard the rumor that little Ray Don is the
secret spokeman for all of those SS & ES companies???

Personally, I think Ray Don's really just full of "hot air"...

Then again, maybe Ray Don's somebody else... I could be mistaken...HA!!!

On second thought - Let's not spoil the evening...

See ya'll tonight!!!

kevin

Did someone mention pierogi?!! Mashed potato and cheese filling perhaps...my husband, being of Polish heritage only makes his during the holidays. Now I'm torn, as to whose home I'd like to visit. Pie or pierogi, what a choice! And to keep this post on topic Bad, very bad weissman. After 12 years of radon emitting from my kitchen please don't mention my third eye in the back of my head. We mutants are very sensitive. lol NancyLouise

That we are indeed!!!

So, what it sounds like is that yes, I will be able to roll my doughs out on my counter (will be Diamond Black granite) w/out using the wood board I've been using for years. I just have to remember to keep it cold...so no under-granite heat mats! :-)

Oh, and use lots of flour? Or is that only necessary if the dough gets too warm?

I've always used a wood board to roll dough on. I tried the Tupperware mats and the cloths, but none seemed to work as well for me as the wood board.

Not to turn this into the cooking forum, but has anyone here ever rolled out rice/potato/etc dough...i.e., gluten-free dough? I tried a gluten-free pie crust this past Thanksgiving and had a really hard time rolling it out, it kept separating...I was hoping the granite would give me better results than the wood board.

there must be a trick for the gluten free, because letting regular dough sit relaxes the gluten and since you don't have gluten there has to be some other trick to getting the dough relaxed...

Started a new thread to show pierogi pics (didn't want to hijack with the pics).

Thanks for all the input and ideas not many if any negatives. I'm sure if there were some it would have come out.

I have done the lemon and oil test on a little piece of the granite (30 mins). No mark no stain nothing. It is resined ( coating on the side). So we should be good to bake our brains out.....

OK I started this thread and I disappeared from the picture. Well we and yes I do me DW and I have been working on and off for most of the week....On a Ukrainian Christmas dinner for 22 people. It is just not Ukrainian http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/holidays/christmas.htm

Kutya (wheat)
Borcht (Beet Soup) with stuffed mushroom min perogies
Salmon
Shrimp
Herrings
Perogies (potato and cheese, saurkraut, blueberries and prunes)
Cabbage Rolls
Mushroom gravey with 4 types of mushrooms with the addition of dried mushrooms
Added some saute porkchops (for those that just need to have meat)
dessets and coffee etc.

Oh did I forget clean-up...good friends always help.

all the time we were working,serving and cleaning up was wishing and thinking about our redo.

Love kutya! But my MIL's recipe uses rice (mixed with a little milk, honey or sugar--I forget which, and some canned poppy seed filling. I could eat the whole bowl!

I just mentioned needing to make MIL's borscht and my own Jewish-Hungarian grandmother's stuffed cabbage on my pierogi thread! It must be fate telling me to get to it after reading your post canuck99!

buffetgirl, you might get an answer to your gluten free question on the cooking forum. There are at least a couple of gluten free bakers over there.

Another pierogi maker here...right on the sealed TB granite...lots of flour and alls well.

Sounds like you are comfortable with going forward. In case you are still deciding, I have honed marble counters and a brushed granite surface on my island. The island is not perfectly smooth or level. I have worked with doughs on both surfaces and they are both easy to work on and to clean. I'm sure that any sanitation issues are much less of a concern that the tile counters with uncleanable grout the house had before. Seriously, it seems much cleaner to me and I love them both.

I even have antiqued Cambrian Black granite and it is wonderful for rolling out bread. No problems. And so neat to set hot cookies on.

One more who rolls dough on her counters - black galaxy before and volga blue since the remodel. No issues. No mold that I can see and no one's been sick!