When I make a pie, I still use a traditional rolling pin with handles to roll out the crust. I cover the rolling pin with a cloth rolling pin cover, and roll the pie pastry out on a thick canvas pastry cloth that I’ve dusted with flour. I know that many people swear that it’s easier to make a nice crust using a straight rolling pin that looks almost like a piece of a thick dowel, but so far I’m sticking with the traditional rolling pin.
I recently was browsing through a hundred-year-old cookbook and was thrilled to discover that the cookbook author supports how I roll out pie crusts, and that she even considers the use of a pastry cloth and rolling pin covered with a cloth rolling pin cover to be the “magic roller” method. It’s good to know that an expert (even if she lived a hundred years ago) supports the process I use.
Here’s what the old cookbook says. (The cookbook author refers to “paste.” This is an archaic term for “pastry.”)
The “magic roller,” made of a square of heavy linen or canvas with a stockinet cover for the rolling pin, makes it possible to handle the paste with practically no addition of flour. The canvas and stockinet material, unlike wood, allow the little flour used to sink into the meshes, and the paste when pressed between the two surfaces slides along without sticking or absorbing the flour.
Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking
