[Cathy Stapleton]

Hi guys.

I recently ran across a grooved rolling pin in a thrift store and was wondering if anyone here had ever seen one similar to it.

Link to picture of it.

It measures 23" from handle to handle. The barrel is 16" in length.

I've had a rolling pin that is grooved in the other direction for a while now - it is for rolling out the dough for a Norwegian potato flatbread called Lefse. Lefse rolling pins come in two varieties - grooved around the barrel, and grooved both directions in sort of a hobnail pattern. Our experience is that the ones grooved one way are much less of a pain when it comes to the dough sticking to the barrel.

The only place I've seen a rolling pin grooved solely down the length of the barrel is in a picture I found on the internet of an antique Lefse Turner that is on display in a Norwegian museum:

Link to picture of it.

I was just wondering if anyone here has ever seen a rolling pin this long that is grooved in this way before. And if so, what it is meant for? Also, have you had any experience using it - and did it work well?

Thanks in advance.

[KYHeirloomer]

If seen them in antique malls, Cathy. Fairly often, in fact, so they must have been common at one time.

Unfortunately I haven't a clue what they were used for.

[Cathy Stapleton]

KYHeirloomer

Thanks for your reply.

This pin looks like it's been around for quite a few years, so it may be a candidate for being sold in an antique mall.

That, and the fact that the only picture I've seen on the web of a rolling pin grooved in this direction makes me think that it may have been the "old-fashioned" way of grooving a Lefse rolling pin.

I'm thinking that, for mass-production purposes, they may have discovered that it's easier and cheaper to groove them around the barrel instead of down the length of the barrel.

I'm looking forward to our family's next Lefse-making bee to find out if this pin works any better than the other pin I use.

[castironchef]

Google's a wonderful thing:

From a food glossary from Hormel (of all places):

Grooved Rolling Pin

A variety of different types of hardwood rolling pins that have ribbed grooves manufactured into the rolling pin shaft. A Single Cut pin, also known as a Corrugated pin, has closely spaced grooves running around the shaft of the pin. The Double Cut pin has grooves running both the length of the shaft and around the shaft at right angles to the lengthwise grooves. Both pins are used to work air pockets out of dough for flatbreads or lefse. A pin that is used for puff pastries, croissants and similar light crusts, which has 1/8-inch wide grooves running lengthwise on the pin shaft, is known as a French grooved pastry pin. This type of pin may also be referred to as a Tutove rolling pin, which is the name of the French manufacturer. The grooves assist to evenly distribute the butter throughout the dough as the layers become thinly rolled and increase in number for the pastry. Similarly, the grooves will also assist to soften the cold dough after it is chilled and then rolled again for the next layer.

[Cathy Stapleton]

Thanks for the information, castironchef, that's very fascinating stuff.

Now I'm going to do some research of my own on Tutove.