Tapered or Straight? Choosing the Best French Rolling Pin

A French rolling pin is a single length of wood, or sometimes steel or silicone, with no handles. Most taper toward both ends, which lets you pivot the pin to turn a ball of dough into a round; a few are straight dowels of even thickness from end to end. Because your palms sit right on the barrel, you feel the dough through the pin and can press harder at one side when a sheet starts to run thin.

Pastry cooks favor them for pie crust and laminated dough, and in a Mexican kitchen a slim handle-less pin is the usual tool for flour tortillas, gorditas and empanada dough. This guide covers only handle-less pins. For handled pins, ball-bearing pins and adjustable pins, see our main rolling pin guide; for stone, see the marble rolling pin guide.

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Quick verdict: which French pin to buy

Below, you will find how these pins differ, who each suits and what to look for before you buy one.

Five handle-less pins side by side

Our five standout French pins, one for each kind of baker, with the specifications each maker or listing states. All eight pins are reviewed in full below.

Product images from Amazon. Sizes and materials are as stated by each maker or listing; check the listing before you buy.

Our picks for the best French rolling pin

These eight pins cover the handle-less choices a home baker actually weighs: long tapered pins in beech, maple and cherry, a straight maple dowel, a shorter tapered pin for small counters and tortillas, an easy-to-find acacia pin, and stainless steel and silicone pins you can chill and wash in the dishwasher. Each pick explains who it suits and gives one honest reason to skip it.

How to choose a French rolling pin

Tapered or straight. A tapered pin is thickest in the middle and narrows toward the ends. Tilting it puts pressure where you need it and lets you pivot dough into a circle, which is why it is the usual choice for pie crust and tortillas. A straight dowel keeps the same thickness end to end, so it rolls even sheets for cookies and pastry with less effort. If you are unsure, start with a gently tapered pin like the Made In.

Length. Twenty inches is the classic French length and covers a pie crust or a big sheet of pastry in few strokes. Pins of 15 to 17 inches suit small counters and small rounds such as tortillas and empanada dough. Check your longest drawer before buying a 20-inch pin.

Wood. Maple and beech are the traditional choices: hard, fine-grained and smooth. Cherry, sapele and acacia work the same way and differ mostly in color and grain. Whatever the wood, a smooth finish matters more than the species, because rough spots catch dough.

Steel and silicone. Both can go in the dishwasher and the freezer, which wood cannot. Steel suits butter-rich pastry; silicone suits sticky cookie dough and fondant. Neither holds flour the way wood does.

Care. Wooden pins should be scraped, wiped, dried at once and never soaked. A thin coat of food-grade mineral oil now and then keeps the wood from drying out. Our cutting board oil guide covers suitable oils.

Rolling flour tortillas with a handle-less pin

Flour tortillas are where a French pin earns its place in a Mexican kitchen. Divide the rested dough into balls, flatten one with your palm, then roll from the center outward once, give the dough a quarter turn and roll again. A tapered pin lets you lean on one end to thin a thick side without lifting the dough. Keep the counter lightly floured and stop when the round is even and thin.

Corn tortillas are different: masa has no gluten and cracks under a pin, so a press works better. Our comparison of a tortilla press vs rolling pin explains when to use which, and our guide to the best tortilla press for flour tortillas covers presses that can handle flour dough. For the bigger picture, see corn vs flour tortillas.

The same pin rolls dough for empanadas, which are covered in our guide to Mexican empanadas, and for the crust in a pie dish.

How we chose these eight French pins

We looked at handle-less rolling pins sold on Amazon by identifiable makers, tapered and straight, in wood, steel and silicone, and kept only those showing as in stock when we checked with Amazon’s product data. Specifications come from the makers’ listings and, for Made In and Ateco, from the maker’s product page and a restaurant-supply retailer, recorded in our research notes. We have not used these pins for this guide.

Because the J.K. Adams French and dowel pins are already reviewed in our main rolling pin guide, and the marble French pins in our marble pin guide, we left them out so this page adds new choices. Fletchers’ Mill and another Ateco French pin showed only limited stock, and many no-name listings were skipped. We found no rolling pin recalls in the US Consumer Product Safety Commission listings we searched.

French rolling pin questions, answered

What is a French rolling pin?

A rolling pin with no handles, usually tapered toward both ends, though straight dowel versions are also called French pins. You roll it under your palms rather than by handles.

Is a French rolling pin better than one with handles?

Many pastry cooks prefer it because you feel the dough directly and can vary pressure across the pin. Handled pins take less wrist effort for big, heavy batches. It comes down to the dough and your hands.

Tapered or straight: which French pin should I buy?

Tapered for rounds such as pie crust and tortillas; straight for even sheets such as cookie dough and pastry.

What length French rolling pin is best?

About 20 inches for general baking; 15 to 17 inches if your counter or drawer is small or you mostly roll small rounds.

Can I wash a wooden French rolling pin in the dishwasher?

No. Every wooden pin here is hand wash only. Choose the stainless steel or silicone pin if you want one that goes in the dishwasher.

Our pick for most home bakers

Buy the Made In 20-inch beechwood pin for pie crust, pastry and flour tortillas. Choose the Ateco maple dowel if you roll more cookies and sheets than rounds, and the muso wood 15.75-inch pin if counter space is tight. For handled and adjustable pins, go back to our best rolling pin guide.

If you would rather someone else rolled the tortillas tonight, see the menu or call to order.