9 Creative Rolling Pin Substitutes

During cooking or baking, you may need the use of a rolling pin for a variety of reasons. A rolling pin, in fact, may be considered a necessary culinary equipment.

So, what should you do if a recipe asks for the use of a rolling pin and you don’t have one on hand? What can you substitute for a rolling pin?

Don’t be concerned! Fortunately, there are several rolling pin replacements that you are almost definitely familiar with. You may even prefer one of these alternatives to an actual rolling pin.

What is a Rolling Pin

A rolling pin is, in essence, a long cylinder. Rolling pins are available in a variety of lengths and weights, as well as a variety of materials. Heavy marble rolling pins, thick plastic rolling pins, wood rolling pins, and hollow metal rolling pins are all available. There are also several rolling pin styles to pick from.

The majority of rolling pins feature handles on both ends of the cylinder. These handles are sometimes fixed to the pin and do not move. Alternative ideas can include a spinning cylinder that rotates as you roll.

The handles remain stationary as the center spins back and forth. The French rolling pin design has no handles and is just a long hefty stick that you press back and forth with your hands.

With over 600,000 rolling pins manufactured and sold each year, it is undeniably a popular culinary equipment. If you want to buy a rolling pin, you should think about all of the various types of pins, which kind you believe you would like using, and how you would mostly use the rolling pin.

Rolling pins often persist for years due to its basic construction, which may withstand hundreds of applications. Don’t be scared to spend a little more money on your pin!

Uses of a Rolling Pin

A rolling pin offers a variety of culinary applications that you may not have imagined. The major use of a rolling pin, and the one that many of us think of initially, is to flatten dough.

Many cookie, pie, and pastry recipes will call for you to flatten the dough to a certain thickness. The simplest method is to use a rolling pin and push the dough or batter in a smooth, consistent manner until it is as thin as you want.

Since rolling pins are relatively large, you may produce a huge sheet of dough that is consistently flat and equal in thickness, ensuring that your rolled dough or batter cooks evenly afterwards. A rolling pin’s primary function is to flatten doughs and batters.

You may also ground entire spices with your rolling pin. Rather of buying spices that have already been ground, it is a good idea to buy them whole and then crush them with a rolling pin. When spices are ground fresh, they have more flavor and are much more potent, greatly improving the flavor of your dishes.

Get entire spices and store them in a small plastic bag. Using a hefty rolling pin, press down on the spices within the bag, rolling the pin back and forth over the spices until they are fine powder. Use them as soon as possible when they are at their most pungent.

Tenderizing meat may also be accomplished using rolling pins. Put the meat to be cooked on a chopping board or a clean, level work surface. Wrap the meat with plastic wrap and then beat it with a rolling pin to tenderize even the hardest portions.

Remove the plastic wrap and cook the meat to your liking! A rolling pin is an excellent substitute for a meat tenderizer.

A rolling pin may also be used as a mold for other baking tasks. If you’re making tuile cookies, lay them over a rolling pin while they’re still hot to give them a wonderful curve. Make fondant cake embellishments using the rolling pin’s circular shape as well.

Rolling pins are a very useful item to have on hand!

Rolling Pin Substitutes

Don’t be concerned if you don’t have a rolling pin on hand. There are several viable options for a classic rolling pin.

Each of these solutions will assist you in completing the task and taking your culinary endeavors ahead. Examine these rolling pin alternatives to evaluate what you have on hand in your kitchen and which you feel will perform best.

The rolling pin replacements we’ll look at are all largely utilized for flattening dough or batter. These solutions may not be suitable if you want to use a rolling pin in a different capacity (for example, to tenderize meat). But, when it comes to rolling, these solutions are ideal!

A meat mallet may be used to tenderize meat. Consider using a mortar and pestle to crush spices. A food processor may be used to break breadcrumbs or candy. Yet, if you need to roll dough, here are a few options.

1 – Wine Bottle

A wine bottle works well in place of a typical rolling pin. It has the same cylindrical form as a rolling pin, a thin neck that may be used as a handle, and is constructed of non-porous glass, making it simple to clean and food safe.

You may use a full, half-full, or empty wine bottle—all will work! A full wine bottle is probably your best option since it will be somewhat heavier, requiring you to press less on the bottle as you roll out dough.

Begin by cleaning the wine bottle’s outside to ensure it is clean. Sprinkle the bottle with flour and use it in the same way you would a rolling pin, rotating the bottle back and forth over the dough.

After that, wash the bottle clean again and maybe enjoy the wine within!

2 – Drinking Glass

A cylindrical drinking glass works well as a rolling pin. Choose a glass with straight, smooth sides, ideally made of glass. A plastic cup will suffice, but it will not be as hefty or as robust as a glass cup.

Make sure the glass is clean before dusting it with flour to prevent the dough or batter from clinging to it as you roll it. Push the glass back and forth gently to flatten the dough to the appropriate thickness.

One important aspect of utilizing a glass as a rolling pin is to avoid pushing too hard at the top of the glass, where the glass is thinner. You don’t want your glass to shatter while serving as a rolling pin!

3 – Reusable Water Bottle

Several folks have reusable water bottles that would make excellent rolling pins. Your water bottle will be able to equally flatten the dough as long as it has straight sides.

Fill your water bottle halfway with water and carefully shut the top. This will provide weight to the water bottle and make rolling the dough easier. To avoid sticking, wipe the exterior of the bottle and sprinkle it with flour beforehand.

4 – Soda Can

Another perfectly cylindrical item that may be used as a rolling pin is a soda can. Since soda cans are on the small side, it may take a few more passes to flatten the dough correctly.

When utilizing a soda can as a rolling pin, you should utilize a full can that is somewhat stronger than an empty one. An empty soda can will not function at all since the material used to make cans collapses quickly when squeezed. A full can is the best option!

If you want to consume the soda after using it as a rolling pin, leave it upright for a few hours before opening it, otherwise the fizzy liquid inside may explode!

5 – PVC Pipe

You can make a fantastic rolling pin out of a piece of plastic PVC pipe you have at home! PVP pipe is available in a variety of diameters, all of which will function nicely. You may even cut your PVC pipe to the precise size you want, creating a rolling pin that you can reuse.

Be sure you use a very clean piece of PVC pipe, ideally a new one. Even if the PVC is brand new, thoroughly clean the interior and exterior before utilizing it in food applications. Dish soap and hot water should get the job done!

6 – Tortilla Press

If you have a tortilla press, it might be useful for flattening cookie dough. Line the tortilla press with plastic wrap or dust it with flour.

A sixteenth of an inch thick (much too thin for a cookie or pie crust!). Close the tortilla press carefully after placing a little piece of dough in the middle. You may not want to shut the press all the way since the tortilla will be extremely thin (tortilla presses often produce tortillas that are less than 1 inch thick).

Instead, gently shut it, pressing the dough down to the desired thickness.

7 – A Watermelon

If you have a huge watermelon, this may be used in lieu of a rolling pin to flatten it. Watermelons have the perfect form for rolling, but they may be fairly hefty and may not work well with delicate doughs.

If you’re making a harder, tougher cookie dough, sandwich it between two pieces of plastic wrap and top it with the watermelon. After a few gently melon rocks, your dough will be perfectly flat!

8 – Wooden Dowel

If you have a wooden dowel on hand, you may use it as a rolling pin. The bigger the dowel, the better, although you may get by with a dowel that is just an inch thick.

Wash the dowel well and dry it with a clean cloth. Before using the dowel, make sure there is no wood flaking off it. Wrap your dough with plastic wrap before rolling it out with the dowel.

While dowels are not regarded safe for food usage, using plastic wrap to keep the wood from directly contacting the dough and maybe getting a splinter of wood in the dough by mistake can help.

Shake the dowel back and forth, much like a conventional rolling pin!

9 – Your Hands

If you don’t have any of the things on this list, you can always flatten your dough using your hands. Using a flat, open hand, gently and slowly press the dough to flatten it evenly.

Make sure your hands are thoroughly floured so the dough or batter does not adhere to them as you work. Although the dough may not be as flat and smooth as when using a rolling pin, you may still accomplish the aim of flattening dough to the desired thickness!

As you can see, there are numerous objects around your home and in your kitchen that may be used as a makeshift rolling pin. In fact, you may never need a rolling pin at all—just purchase a bottle of wine or a case of soda instead!

Check out each of these rolling pin tricks to find which works best for you in your culinary adventures!