Review: Sil-Pin French Style Rolling Pin

The first company to make silicone-coated rolling pins, Sil-Pin offers an array of rolling pins that will easily roll out even sticky and fragile doughs, and clean up with minimal effort. It’s a great addition to any cook’s arsenal of pastry and baking tools.

Sil-Pin rolling pins are coated in food-grade silicone, a material known to prevent sticking, clean up easily and offer a comfortable and secure grip, even with wet or greasy hands. The company’s French Style rolling pin is 20 inches long and tapered at either end, which eliminates the need for a handle and makes it easy to pivot the pin on the dough to roll evenly at every angle. The handle-free design also allows you to drape a rolled-out pie crust over the pin to transport it from your work surface into a pie pan. The pin comes in bright colors (including blue and red) with metal caps on either end. In addition to the French style design, Sil-Pin rolling pins also come in the traditional kind with handles, a 4-inch junior version, a straight shape and a mini 4-inch pastry roller.

I tested the Sil-Pin on some sticky, delicate sugar cookie dough and a pie crust and was quite pleased at how easy it was to maneuver. At 1 pound, it was just the right weight to flatten the dough in just a few strokes, and was easy to angle and reposition over the dough to ensure that the entire piece was rolled out evenly. The tapered edges gave me much more control than my normal rolling pin, a traditional straight version.

Since it was made of silicone, I expected that no dough would stick to it, even without the dusting of flour needed with wooden or marble pins. This wasn’t the case – unfloured, the dough did stick to the pin. But when I rubbed a bit of flour over the surface of the pin, the flour clung to the rubbery surface of the silicone far better than it does on other types of pins, and the dough didn’t stick a bit. Afterwards, the pin easily washed clean, even after sitting out for awhile.

The shape and silicone coating of the Sil-Pin French Style rolling pin has made it my new favorite in the kitchen. It’s a little more expensive than a wooden French pin, but for frequent bakers, well worth the investment.

Pros

• Silicone surface coats well with flour to increase nonstick properties
• Tapered design easy to control
• Easy to clean

Cons

• Silicone still needs flour to avoid sticking
• Rubbery silicone surface attracts dust in storage

Description

• Made of food-grade silicone
• 20 inches long
• Weighs 1 pound
• Dishwasher safe

The item reviewed was purchased by the reviewer.