The 7 best rolling pins of 2021

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  • The best rolling pins are comfortable in your hands, easy to use, and are made of durable materials.
  • Joseph Joseph is our favorite, thanks to its convenient ring system that makes it simple to roll dough to a precise thickness.

Whether you're making cookies, pie crust, pizza, or pasta, a quality rolling pin will make it easier for you to spread the dough to the shape and thickness you want.

There are many styles offered, from American-style with two handles to straight dowels and French-style rolling pins with tapered ends. Many experts and professional bakers choose handle-less French pins and straight dowels because they like the amount of control it gives them. They're easier to clean as well.

Rolling pins are made from a variety of materials, including metal, marble, glass, and wood. Five out of the seven rolling pins featured in our guide are made of hardwood, simply because it provides the best value and durability, and has a comfortable heft to it. The other materials commonly used have conductive properties that require you to chill them beforehand to keep the dough from sticking to the pin.

Below, we rounded up rolling pins based on durability, design, and ease of use so your baking experience is the best it can be.

Here are the best rolling pins of 2021

  • Best rolling pin overall: Joseph Joseph Adjustable Rolling Pin
  • Best French rolling pin: Fletchers' Mill French Rolling Pin
  • Best dowel-shaped rolling pin: JK Adams Maple Wood Rolling Dowel
  • Best high-end rolling pin: Tomnuk French Rolling Pin
  • Best stainless steel rolling pin: Ultra Cuisine Tapered French Rolling Pin
  • Best marble rolling pin: French Kitchen Marble Rolling Pin with Stand
  • Best wooden rolling pin with handles: Hearth & Hand with Magnolia Rolling Pin with Black Handles

The best rolling pin overall

Joseph and Joseph

When a recipe calls for your dough to be a specific thickness, you don't have to rely on a ruler or estimation when you have the Joseph Joseph Adjustable Rolling Pin, which features removable rings.

Pros: Makes rolling flat dough simple, easily measure and adjust the thickness of dough with removable disks

Cons: The rolling surface is narrow

Size: 16.5-inch

What sets the Joseph Joseph Adjustable Rolling Pin apart from all other rolling pins is its removable disks held in place by a plastic screw at each end of the pin. The removable disks lift the solid beech wood pin 3/8, ¼, 1/6, or 1/16-inch off the surface you are rolling on.

Etched into the pin is a measurement guide that helps you determine the width of the dough.

You can also remove all the rings if you want to use the rolling pin as a straight dowel. Though ideal for sugar cookies and tea cakes, you may have trouble rolling out crusts for larger pies since the actual wooden rolling part of the device is only 13.5-inches long.

When finished, Joseph Joseph recommends handwashing the wood and not submerging it in water.

The best French rolling pin

Fletcher's Mill

The Fletchers' Mill French Rolling Pin is elegantly made, lightweight and perfect for delicate pastries.

Pros: Lightweight (but heavy enough to get the job done), great for delicate pastries

Cons: If you're looking to work with cookie dough or other more substantive desserts, you may want something heavier still

Size: 20-inch

If you're working with delicate pastries and thin crusts, then the right tool is the Fletchers' Mill French Rolling Pin.

It's made of a beautiful maple, and is tapered on both ends, so while there aren't any handles, it's still easy to work with. It has a clean aesthetic with sleek lines and is particularly well-suited for manipulating small quantities of dough.

Meant for rolling out thin layers, this pin is extremely durable, and glides easily over whatever you're working with, all without causing dough to stick. Plus, if you're working with a round pie crust, the narrowed sides allow for quick pivoting.

The Fletchers' Mill rolling pin comes with a limited lifetime warranty. But based on my experience thus far, you won't need to worry.

The best dowel-shaped rolling pin

J.K. Adams

The JK Adams Maple Wood Rolling Dowel is ideal for people who are looking for a flat, dowel-shaped pin to use when rolling dough into rectangular shapes.

Pros: Lifetime warranty, excellent for rectangular and oblong shapes, hardwood and self-lubricating nylon make it easy to roll

Cons: Not as agile as the French rolling pins

Size: 19-inch

The JK Adams Maple Wood Rolling Dowel is particularly unique because it has a thin cylindrical shape that looks like a child's block. This makes it great for rolling dough into rectangular shapes, though it isn't as easy to make turns and create circular shapes for pizzas and pie crusts.

The barrels are made from waxed hardwood barrels and there's a full-length steel axle that rolls through self-lubricating nylon, making it smoother to roll. The pin can also be fitted with spacers to achieve precise thicknesses. However, it needs to be dusted with flour often and isn't as agile as many French rolling pins.

This pin is highly durable and also comes with a lifetime warranty, too.

The best high-end rolling pin

Tomnuk

The Tomnuk French Rolling Pin is one of the most aesthetically pleasing kitchen tools out there and is simple to use when baking.

Pros: Beautiful construction, doesn't stick to dough, weighty without being unwieldy

Cons: None

Size: 21.5-inch

 The beautifully designed Tomnuk French Rolling Pin gets its shine from bee's wax polish and mineral oil finish, which makes it incredibly smooth to use.

There are a number of details that set the Tomnuk apart from other pins on the market — for example, a small brass accent on the end of the pin isn't just for show — it allows you to hang it on a standard kitchen hook and keep it around for easy access.

While most rolling pins require quite a bit of flour dusting to keep them from sticking to whatever pastry you may be working with, this isn't required with the Tomnuk. That bee's wax and mineral oil finish not only makes for a great-looking pin, but also serves as a nonstick coating.

More importantly, the wood of this pin boasts a slightly more porous surface than most, which is great for retaining flour longer, so your dusting doesn't just get worked into your dough. Instead, it stays on the pin, and helps you glide with each roll.

Even without handles, it moves effortlessly and has enough heft to make it useful for a wide range of different doughs. While you'll certainly be able to work with finesse, you also won't have to expend excess muscle energy in order to work with, say, cookie dough.

The best stainless steel rolling pin

Ultra Cuisine

The Ultra Cuisine Tapered French Rolling Pin is made of stainless steel, which makes it dishwasher safe and resistant to absorbing flavors, odors, and colors of the dough.

Pros: Easy to clean, lightweight, doesn't absorb flavors

Cons: Warms up easily which can affect the dough

Size: 15 ¾ -inch

The Tapered French Rolling Pin from Ultra Cuisine is different from the other pins in our guide because it is made of 100% stainless steel. Stainless steel should be chilled before using it to roll buttery dough. Otherwise, it will cause the dough to heat up.

The 100% food-grade 201 stainless steel has a brushed finish. Unlike wood, you do not need to treat this model with mineral oil. You just throw it in the dishwasher, and you don't have to worry about it cracking, splintering, or drying out.

Many people find this style of pin much easier to use than French rolling pins and rollers with handles. We also like that this rolling pin is lightweight, easy to clean, comfortable in the hands, and that the dough ingredients do not stick to the pin.

The best marble rolling pin

Crate&Barrel

Marble rolling pins retain cold so you can roll buttery dough more easily, and the French Kitchen Marble Rolling Pin with Stand is an aesthetically pleasing and ergonomic option.

Pros: Smooth, can handle tough dough, stays cold longer, ergonomic handles

Cons: May be heavier than other picks, prone to staining

Size: 18-inch

Marble rolling pins are commonly used in pastry kitchens due to their ability to stay cold. When rolling out buttery dough, you want to do anything possible to keep that butter from melting. Plus the French Kitchen Marble Rolling Pin with Stand proves that a fully functional baking essential can also be beautifully crafted and displayed on your countertop.

The white marble pin has the smoothness and heft to handle brittle or tough dough. Its durable construction allows you to really press and stretch it out, too. If your hands become tired, or your delicious pastries and cakes are in the oven, the pin can rest on the included rubberwood stand that also matches its handles.

Like all stone, there will be some veining and coloring variations, so the pin may not look exactly like the above photo. When finished, this pin is safe to hand wash with dish soap and warm water. Marble is prone to staining, so it's best to wash it right away.

The best wooden rolling pin with handles

Target

For a minimally designed baking tool that's easy to use, you can't go wrong with the Hearth & Hand with Magnolia Rolling Pin with Black Handles .

Pros: Easily rolls different types of dough, sturdy construction, ergonomic handles, natural wood finish

Cons: Handle seems can be difficult to clean

Size: 17-inch

The Hearth & Hand with Magnolia Rolling Pin with Black Handles features an easy-to-use design with raised handles to flatten all kinds of dough. Its handles are conveniently curved, too, so they're easier to grip when rolling out your ingredients.

The pin is quite large, so the natural wood design is able to work on wider countertops and can accomplish more precise flattening tasks while baking. With its smooth finish and durable construction, this pin is sure to last you for years of making sweet treats in the kitchen.

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