A bench scraper is one of my favorite tools to have around the kitchen. It’s not something that will steal the spotlight from a shiny stand mixer, but it is something that comes in handy a lot when you work with breads and pastries. A bench scraper a rectangular tool that is used to scrape work surfaces clean in the kitchen. Although there are plastic ones, most have a metal blade that can slide easily under a sticky dough or a pile of flour. The definitely make cleaning up easier, but they also make handling a sticky dough – whether you’re trying to knead some extra flour into a loose yeast dough and can’t quite turn it with your hands alone, or whether you’re trying to roll out a soft dough for cut-out cookies – as easy as pie. If you’ve ever struggled with something sticking to your work surface and trying to pry it up with a knife or spatula, you’ll definitely appreciate how easy it can be with a bench scraper.
I primarily use my bench scraper for kneading bread doughs and moving pie crusts around, but because it has a relatively thin blade to it, it is also great for portioning out doughs – a quick press and you have turned a big batch of dough into a bunch of dinner rolls with no hassle – or trimming edges off of pastry.
nina
October 21, 2010They’re also good for smoothing frosting out on the sides of cakes!
the blissful baker
October 21, 2010this would definitely come in handy when baking! i want one ! 🙂