The South Padre Island Flip Flop Foodie Brownsville restaurants

Search The South Padre Island Flip Flop Foodie Blog!

Monday, March 28, 2011

KITCHEN GADGET - Rolling Pin Rings

You've seen me post, multiple times, that I have trouble rolling a smooth dough.  I get hills and valleys, lumps and bumps....wreaks havoc on my sugar cookie cutouts, resulting in icing flowing off the edges and other unsightly blemishes.

A friend suggested getting some flat pieces of wood as "markers" like she used to do when rolling out clay in her art studio.  Another friend said her mom gave her some rolling pin rings.  I asked my hubby to pick up some wood trim pieces at 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch thickness if he could find them and then I ran across some rolling pin rings on Amazon.  They look like big rubber bands and had various depths, so I ordered them.

I was glad that the 3 smallest rings did fit easily on my French dowel rolling pin...but because of the slope on the end of the pin, they don't roll out dough "as measured" on the instructions. 


You can see the slope of a French dowel causes the rings
to attach at different "depths"

The worse part was the ring that was supposed to roll at 3/8" requires you to put the 1/4" ring on first and then put the 3/8" ring on top of it (making a stacked ring) and the actual thickness is 5/8, not 3/8 as advertised.  As soon as I applied pressure, the outer ring popped off anyway...so it's pretty useless for a thicker roll-out.

The two rings together measure 5/8" - the white can't be used independently for 3/8"

You can see that at the thickest point of the rolling pin
the largest ring just hangs loosely

When pressure applied to roll - this is what happened
These were packaged by 3C Systems, Inc. out of Wynnewood, PA.  The Amazon link said they were Regency Wraps Rolling Hills Rolling Pin Rings (whew, what a name).  The colors are different and the packaging was different than displayed on the Amazon web page...hmmm.  They cost $6.39 for the package.  Since I threw the packaging away, I really can't return them.  I'll use the 3 smaller sizes...but the largest is useless.  I make thicker sugar cookies because I decorate them and don't want them to break...this is not going to do the trick!

I do have a silicone rolling pin - but it is quite large and these would never fit on it...even the white one.

Another issue I noted with rolling pin rings...To get a large amount of dough even - you have to keep the rings on the board and off the dough...so your dough round or your dough square could be no wider than 11 to 13 inches, (if using a dowel) depending on the thickness (how far onto the dowel the ring goes to be stable).  Frankly, I doubt these were ever intended to fit on a French rolling pin...it said a "standard" rolling pin...but these days...what is a standard rolling pin's length and circumference?  There are so many choices!!!

Hate it when something doesn't work the way I expect and I've thrown away the packaging.  Live and learn!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!StumbleUpon

4 comments:

  1. Debbi,

    I asked for a set of rolling pin rubber rings for Christmas. My sister and niece went to four stores before finding them. The adage "Be careful what you wish for." is so true. I tried using the green set. After oiling the ends of the rolling pin and two of us "reefing" on the rings, we finally got them on the "standard" rolling pin. I thought that is was "me"; but after reading your comments, I think that I will take them back.
    Before finding your post, I researched "3C Systems, Inc, Wynnewood, PA" and found that the company receives grants from the Department of Defense for munitions research.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG - rolling pin rings and DOD munitions research. WOW! That's unbelievable. I looked that up too and they've been working with the DOD for many years! I find it odd that they can't make rolling pin bands successfully yet they are investigating "better" weaponry...scary!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I bought these at a specialty "cook" store... they won't fit anything I own... anyone find a rolling pin for these??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mine fit on a french rolling pin - the type with the tapered ends. They would never fit on a regular rolling pin, I don't believe. My new preference is to use rolling guide sticks. I buy 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch trim wood pieces from Home Depot or Lowe's and, after thoroughly scrubbing them, use them as a guide to roll out my dough. It's soooo much easier than these rings (especially as I have changed from a French rolling pin to a thick solid chunk of maple for rolling...the rings would never fit on the one I use now!!!)/

      Delete

Comments are moderated - you should see it within a few hours if approved! Spam or marketing comments are immediately deleted. Thank you!!!