I have both and find that I rarely use the French rolling pin. I really prefer my nice Teflon coated, ball bearing regular rolling pin.

Nancy

I've been using a French Rolling Pin for over 30 years. It is the only one I use and I have yet to find anything that I can't roll out using this pin - Pie crust, pizza, pasta, etc....

Ann

Ditto what Ann said. And I think I have used it to bash crackers/cookies into crumbs too.

Teresa

What a French pin does differently is to flatten the center of what you are rolling before it flattens the edges. If you use a cylinder rolling pin, all surfaces get flattened at the same time, and if you tilt it at all, an edge will get much thinner than the center. With a French pin, it is much easier to avoid edges that are too thin, and this is why it is my pin of choice for pie crust and pizza dough.

I do use it differently, and I always roll from the center to an edge. When the center is at the thickness I want, I can then go around and adjust the edges as needed. Considering how inexpensive it is, it is definitely worth getting.

Lars

To answer the question:

Comparing a regular straight round pin, a french rolling pin does different things. It depends on your own preferences, working habits and most of all, what you are making with what kind of dough.

A stright round pin pushes dough forwards and backwards with uniform thickness, and you can fold the dough over and over and roll and roll. It makes good noodle and ravioli doughs.

A tapered French pin pushes dough forwards, backwards as well as sideways. It works well with dough with a lot of elasticity and also for pizza type of non-uniform thickness dough.

I use a one-liter Belvedere vodka bottle as a rolling pin. It rolls well. I can also fill it with ice water for some situations.

dcarch

Trudy.
An 1 1/4 inch hardwood dowel, works just as well as anything, even better if you know how to.

You can buy one in Lowe's Or Home Depot for a few dollars.

Most of the French Rolling pins are straight, except the very end, which tapers slightly.
So inactuality, you are using a Straight Dowel, if you are rolling out a Pizza Dough,
because only the center is used.
Same with Pie Dough, it is not very large.

I use a Straight Hardwood Dowel for Pasta Dough.
It can be rolled out to a 24 inch circle, with uniform thickness, in less than 2 minutes.

If you would like to say " I use a French Rolling Pin "
Do what you prefer.
If you want the French Rolling Pin,
Google , " Fante's of Phila." They have many choices.

Some are very reasonable and you will be able to see the various shapes.
LOU

"I use a one-liter Belvedere vodka bottle as a rolling pin. It rolls well. I can also fill it with ice water for some situations."

And here I thought I was the only one with this particular instrument!!! LOLOLOL! And I agree - it is great when you need to keep the dough super cold, I fill mine 1/2 full of water and keep it in the freezer, that way I only have to add cold tap water to have that huge frozen ice cube chilling everything while I roll. When it melts, I dump half out and refreeze for the next time. Plus, with the giant ice cube in it I can easily distinguish it from the Belvedere vodka in the freezer! LOLOLOL!

Alexa

dcarch, I spent a decade rolling pie crusts at the bar and grille with a Kessler's whiskey bottle filled with ice water. it worked as well as anything else I've ever used.

Annie

Although the whiskey bottle sounds fun, I think I will try the French rolling pin first. Thank you so much for all of your great ideas!