I don't use the sock on my French pin, but I do use a canvas cloth on the counter to roll out dough - usually bread dough.

Why can't you roll out on a granite counter?

I don't use anything on my rolling pin. It's somewhere more than 50 years old and very well oiled with the fat from many pie crusts and batches of butter cookies.
I roll out my dough on a corian pastry board. Works almost as well as marble but is much lighter.
Linda C

Pam:
There are boards to roll dough on. They are about 27 inches square.
I put the Photo in another thread, about rolling out Pasta dough, for Ravioli.
There was a clip tutorial on rolling the dough.

My grandmother used that and the macoroni stick for rolling all kinds of dough.
It is very fast and easy once you have tried it .
I still have mine.

I use the center dowel, slightly larger dia. than a Quarter.
you can roll out a 24 inch circle in a few minutes.
LOU

I had Grandma's old rolling pin, and I gave it to Amanda and now use one of those long dowel types, wooden, wider in the middle than the ends. I don't like it much, I'm going to replace it, I think, with a plain, straight dowel type.

Nope, you don't need anything on your rolling pin except maybe a dusting of flour, maybe not even that. I used a Kessler's whiskey bottle for pie crust when we owned the bar and grille and I've used a tall straight sided glass in a pinch. It all works, to varying degrees.

Why can't you roll on a granite counter?

Annie

I have a granite counter and I use a regular wood rolling pin. I don't know why you couldn't.

I use a regular ol' rolling pin with the handles on the side. Looks a lot like this picture below. And I roll everything out on my granite counter tops. Works great. I love rolling stuff right on the granite.

It is not true that granite top stays cooler. A granite top will be the same as room temperature. Wood on the other hand, being a better insulator, will keep your dough cooler longer.

I will try not to roll on a granite counter top. Granite is a natural material and may have natural flaws, if it is not supported properly by chance, the rolling force may crack a $4,000 piece of work. It doesn't happen often, but it can.

Some granite colors are dyed, Absolute Black, Black Galaxy, Zimbabwe Black and a few others, for instance. Repeated working on one area may change the color of that one area.

I use a tall empty vodka bottle to roll dough. You can fill it with ice water if needed.

dcarch

You didn't say what you were rolling out. I use a French rolling pin (tapered slightly at the ends) for pie dough, and I put the dough on lightly floured silpat on a granite counter. I've used clothes when rolling out dough for strudel, and I use a regular dowel shape pin for that. For rolling out pasta, I use a pasta machine, but if I were using a rolling pin, I would use the dowel instead of the French pin. I've never used a sock on a rolling pin. If I'm rolling out bread dough to make cinnamon rolls, I use the dowel pin also, which I used the last time I made Napoleons as well. I might try the French pin the next time I make thin crust pizza, however, but I haven't had that pin for very long, and I now consider it essential for pie dough.

Lars

Crack a granite counter top by rolling out pie crust? I hardly think so.
Granite has a higher heat capacity than wood and while it may be the same temperature to begin as the wood, granite or any stone has a greater capacity to absorb heat and keeps the dough cooler than rolling on wood.
Very simple physics.
Linda C

No, I wasn't worried about cracking the granite, I was thinking that the dough would get into the teensy holes and fissures. Maybe not. I should try it.

I'm making a pie dough. I suck at making pie dough, so I wondered if I should or shouldn't use that sock thingy. My rolling pin looks like May's.

I am determined to make this work!

Posted by lindac -------------âÂÂCrack a granite counter top by rolling out pie crust? I hardly think so.
Granite has a higher heat capacity than wood and while it may be the same temperature to begin as the wood, granite or any stone has a greater capacity to absorb heat and keeps the dough cooler than rolling on wood.
Very simple physics.
Linda CâÂÂ

Once more, it is amazing how much you and I agree on so many topics. :-)

I am in total agreement with you that granite is a very strong material and rolling out dough is not likely to crack it. I also said that it doesnâÂÂt happen often, not in the ideal world in your area anyway.

In my part of the world which is less than ideal, strange things do occur. Many reasons why stone counter tops would crack. Frequently, improper cabinet installation/shimming will impose severe stress to the stone. Structural settlement of the kitchen floor is another factor in uneven stain for a non-ductile stone material. As I said, natural material may also have flaws. When all this are happening, rolling on the counter top will be that one straw on the camelâÂÂs back. Stone top cracking is seldom due to impact force, such as dropping a frying pan on it, and stone counter tops do crack.

I am also agreeing with you that it is simple physics that stone has a higher heat capacity (Thermal mass, specific heat, something like that) that it can absorb more heat than wood. However, that can only happen in one direction. Based on the law of thermal dynamics, that is, heat can only go from hot to cold (entropy?). Frankly, I have never rolled dough that is hotter than room temperature, therefore never experienced the simple physics which you have indicated.

dcarch

May I suggest you lay your hand on a granite coun ter top...then lay your hand on a wooden board in the same room.
The counter top feels cold, because it more quickly absorbs ( for want of a better word) heat from your hand. Same thing happens with pie dough. Roll it on a piece of marble to keep it cool. many high end kitchens have a marble slab inset in a pastry center just for such a thing.
When I had strong male hands to help I would put a marble slab I have on a table to roll butter cookies when I was making a lot at Christmas.
Marble, granite, soap stone are all great for pastry of all sorts, because they absorb more heat from the dough than wood can.
Linda C

Okay, but I wasn't worried about cracking the granite. I was worried about getting dough stuck in the miniscule holes and crevices.

Again we agree, amazing!

Room temperature on the counter top is, say 80 degrees. Your body temperature is 98.6 degrees, therefore your body heat will flow one way, to the granite, and yes, you will feel cold.

You will solve the world energy crisis instantly if it is the other way around! If a room temperature granite can make a cold dough from the refrigerator colder it will be a miracle. Not that I don't believe in miracles. :-)

Dcarch

Posted by dedtired --"Okay, but I wasn't worried about cracking the granite. I was worried about getting dough stuck in the miniscule holes and crevices. "

I don't think that would be a problem. Stone surfaces for counters are sealed very well. Some engineered stones also have compounds which inhibit micro organism growth.
I pass by two custom stone fabricators on my way to work every day. I bought a scrap piece from their pile of cracked counters. I used my wet diamond saw to cut it to a nice slab which I used to work dough on. The one thing I really like is when you use the scraper to get the dough off the surface of the slab. You know thatâÂÂs much easier than on wood.

dcarch

I use a wooden pin for pie dough & a marble rolling pin for noodles & bread. Can't get my noodle recipe to roll in the pasta roller without tearing so I roll it out by hand & use the pasta machine to cut the ndls. Sometimes I use a pastry cloth & sometimes I just roll it out on the counter. Don't use a sock on the rolling pins.

Thinking about getting a silicone mat for rolling on. I read somewhere that you don't have to use flour. That would be nice for pie crusts. Guess you would need a little for the rolling pin though, wouldn't you. Wonder if it really works or if I'd just be wasting my money?

I have a long dowel-type and a smaller one with the handles with bearings. I usually roll out pie pastry between sheets of waxed paper.

"May I suggest you lay your hand on a granite coun ter top...then lay your hand on a wooden board in the same room.
The counter top feels cold, because it more quickly absorbs ( for want of a better word) heat from your hand. Same thing happens with pie dough."

Not really. Only if the dough is at body temperature. If the dough has been chilled, and is cooler than the granite counter top, the dough will gain heat from a room temperature counter top. Also, it will gain heat faster from a heat conductive stone counter than from a better insulated wood one.

The advantage in using stone pastry slabs is in refrigerating them prior to use. It's hard to get a granite counter top into the fridge. Placing a container of ice on the counter for a while might help.

jim

Ci, I use a silpat mat for rolling pie dough, and it does require a very light dusting of flour, depending on how wet the dough is (Mine is pretty wet). It has plenty of other uses, and so I don't think it would be a waste of money. It's great for baking cookies. I store some flour in a shaker so that I can lightly dust the surface as well as the pin.

Lars

Reading my post again, I see that it could be better explained. To put it simply, if dough and board are both at room temperature no heat transfer will occur. It will make no difference what material the board is made of. Chilling the dough, the board or both can be advantageous.

Judging the temperature of a surface by feel can be deceptive because the feel depends on two things, temperature and thermal conductivity. And, although your hand has sense of feel, dough does not.

Jim

Why is everyone so concerned with a scientific analysis, of stone and wood.

Pam:
If I do meet at Reading Terminal, I'll bring you a Dowel, for rolling dough.
It can also be used for Intruders.
My Grandmother used hers, if I bothered her too much, while she was cooking.

I used a Marble slab in the Pizzeria for rolling dough.

Marble feels cooler than wood because the heat is transfered faster, from your hand.
Wood is a better insulator, although a very hard wood, like Maple feels cooler than White Pine.
Our Grandmothers knew all this but didn't talk about it.
JUST GRABBED THEIR DOWEL AND STARTED ROLLING THE DOUGH.

I'd rather be rolling in the Dough.
LOU

Thank you so much for the info, Lars. I'm going to put it on my Christmas wish list.

Hey Lou, looking at your rolling pins, remember stick ball?

dcarch

"Why is everyone so concerned with a scientific analysis, of stone and wood."

Because we are Alton Brown wannabees.

"I'd rather be rolling in the Dough."

And you're a Groucho Marx wannabee, eh?

Jim

I have no granite. I chill the dough and roll on a very large Teflon-type restaurant store purchase cutting board. Because I am short, I place it on the table in my breakfast room. The counters are much too high.

I have a large, heavy, wooden handled rolling pin that was my grandmothers. It's about 30" long and made of rock maple.
The weight greatly helps the effectiveness.
It's made in the USA but I don't recall the name offhand.
It begins with an R. Maybe Rococco?

Anyway, it's fabulous. One of my best kitchen tools.

There is a difference between pressing and rolling dough and the weight allows a true roll.

I have 2 wooden dowels (long, thin and tapered at the ends) a big ole honkering rolling pin that Wayne made in woodworking class in high school, a marble one and a silicone covered rolling pin. I don't use the silicone covered one. Dough still sticks to it. I love the marble and wood ones. They roll out all of the different types of doughs quickly and with not a lot of stickiness to them.
Having granite counters for over 14 years, yes you can roll directly on them with no ill effects. I freeze a jumbo sized zip lock bag with water flatly. When frozen I put it on the counter to cool the surface in preparation for rolling out my pie doughs. I also have a large marble slab which is great for cookie doughs. Both granite and marble are excellent surfaces to work on. NancyLouise

Wood on the other hand, being a better insulator, will keep your dough cooler longer.

Ok, I follow your logic so far, dcarch. But you lost me here:

I used my wet diamond saw to cut it to a nice slab which I used to work dough on.

Why? Do you want warm dough? :)

Actually I never really thought about the physics as you've presented it. Makes sense, and it leads me to wonder if the whole marble thing is a wives tale stemming from the "stone feels cold" phenominum. Interesting.

FOAS,

In fact, everyone is correct in some aspects, including LindaC's statements, the ones which I agree to. I know many people may find it bothersome to think about this, and I apologize to them; but cooking science is not that much of an exoteric thing, and some times it answers the question, â Why my pie dough is not goodâÂÂ.

To answer your questions,

1. The stone counter is always at room temperature, which is about 80 degrees in the kitchen. When you put you hand on it, which is about 98.6 degrees, you will feel cold. But if you put a lump of cold dough from the refrigerator on it, which is about 40 degrees, the 80-degree stone will start to warm up the 40 degree colder dough, until everything comes to equilibrium, then everything reaches room temperature.

2. The identical situation will occur with a wood counter top. Except everything goes much slower because wood is a better insulator, and has less thermal mass to warm up your dough.

To take advantage of the thermal mass (thermal capacity, thermal swing, etc.) of the stone, as Jim had indicated, you can refrigerate the stone slab if it is portable, or put ice cubes in a plastic bag on the counter to chill the stone first. Of course, this creates a little issue on a hot humid day, moisture will start to condense on the stone counter immediately.

The stone slab I had could go in the refrigerator. Not only that, it could go into the oven. It is very nice to have your main course dishes on your dining table kept warm for a long time when it is being served.

I did not mention a different thing I am doing now because I didnâÂÂt want to annoy people here.

I have a 1/4 â thick aluminum plate which I have attached several Peltier solid state thermoelectric modules to. If you google Peltier you will find out that it is a fascinating electronic device. It is a tiny cookie-size reversible refrigerator with no moving parts. When you apply a DC current through it, one side of it will be very cold and the other side will be very hot. If you flip the switch the cold hot sides will reverse.

I now have a plate that is both for hot and for cold. Not only that, by the switching arrangement of the modules, half of the plate is hot for hot food and at the same time the other half of the plate is cold for salads.

It is much lighter than a slab of stone. I am not sure why they donâÂÂt sell this, because it is not expensive. You can buy a portable refrigerator using this device for about $30.

dcarch

I'm not sure why it matters. I've been rolling dough since I was a kid on formica countertops with no problem at all. Now I use the Nathan's pastry, I don't even chill it and it comes out fine.

I've had more trouble with dough that's too cold than I've ever had with rolling room temperature dough out straight on my formica countertop, dusted with flour.

I did, at one point, have a marble slab and a marble rolling pin, but I seldom used them and eventually gave them away.

Annie

dcarch - you're a nut.

Annie - Isn't "room temperature" about 50 deg in your house most of the year? LOL!

I think there are as many opinions on any given topic as there are people who post on the forum. You guys are great.

One good thing about rolling on a pastry cloth is that you can pick it up and shake the excess flour out the kitchen door. On the other hand, you have to wash it so pick your poison.

Thanks for the offer of the dowel Lou, but I really can't carry that around with me at the Terminal or anywhere else in the city or I might be arrested for carrying a deadly weapon!

I was worried about getting dough stuck in the miniscule holes and crevices

Hmmm... maybe it depends on the kind of granite you have, but I don't have that problem. My granite is not sealed (doesn't need to be) so it may very well not be a perfectly smooth surface, who knows.

When I'm done rolling dough, I just wipe down the counter using a towel with very hot water. Looks clean to the "naked eye". Any residue which may be there is not only not visible, but doesn't seem to have any effect on the next thing I put on my counter.

Thanks for the discussion on rolling pins. I'm afraid I still use my mom's old pin, wood with handles and bearings, (I'm 74)and have often thought I'd like to try one of the French pins or a dowel, but just never got around to it.

I also use a wooden board, can't remember where I got it, it's pretty old too. (Notice a pattern here?) It's about an inch thick and not too heavy. I can lean into it when I roll and that keeps it from moving as it's exactly counter depth. It's well-seasoned with flour and unless I'm working with very sticky dough I simply scape it with the bench scraper and store it upright by the side of the refrigerator.

There's no way I could lift and store anything stone, and I would think that a Silpat, at least the ones I've seen would not be near big enough to handle much dough. I guess you get used to what you have and go with it!

FOAS, thats only October through April. (grin) By May it's up in the 60 and for most of this summer it was a minimum of 90, because I don't have air conditioning.

Get the dishwasher, the dryer (which is located in a closet on the West side of my kitchen) and a canner going, and it can top 100F without much trouble!

Still roll dough right on the kitchen island, though...

Annie

"Why is everyone so concerned with a scientific analysis, of stone and wood."
"Because we are Alton Brown wannabees."

"I'd rather be rolling in the Dough."

You would make a good comedian Jim. ; )
I'd rather be rolling the in the dough too!

I rarely roll out pastry because I don't like to bake. When I do roll it out I use a pastry cloth and I have an old fashioned rolling pin with handles. That's what my mother had and I thought at the time it was the only useful kind of rolling pin. Now I know that if I ever get another one I want a French pin. I only recently acquired a granite countertop and haven't tried rolling pastry on it. Due to this conversation, I think I will try it the next time.

I have both a silicone rolling pin and a wooden one with the ball bearing handles. I keep going back to the wooden one because the silicone rolling pin is just so much bigger and I haven't gotten comfortable using it.

I do have a large silicone rolling mat (18x24) that I got from the King Arthur website a few years ago and I do love using it for rolling out lots of different doughs from pie crust to cookies. This mat allows me to use less flour to prevent sticking which has really helped me to enjoy making cut out cookies again.

I have also had success rolling pie pastry between sheets of parchment paper. After baking pies for over 40 years dough doesn't scare me at all except I have never attempted puff pastry. That does scare me!
Kat