The Many Ways to Use a Pastry Scraper

My pastry (baking) scraper is one of my favorite tools in our kitchen and my daughters know it too. My oldest daughter wrote this post about how we use our pastry scraper at home.

The Many Uses of a Kitchen Bakery Scraper

By Nell Jones - daughter, writer, student, contributor

The scraper.  One of the most popular tools in my house and arguably one that every household should know and own.

Originally a stocking stuff bought for my dad, the bench scraper, also known as a pastry and dough scraper, is technically and originally a baking tool.  However, since my sister is really the only one who bakes in the family, the rest of us were able to find other uses for it.  I can confidently say that the “scraper” is taken out for every meal prep at my house.

I was first introduced to the notorious scraper in my ceramics class, where we would use it to portion out the clay and clean up the canvas table covers at the end of class.  It made sense that it was a baking tool because in a way you are manipulating clay similarly to how you manipulate the dough.

There are a lot of different kinds of these scrapers for all of its many uses.  I think my dad would probably like a personalized one, but I don’t think they make those yet.

Instead, you can get a flexible or hard plastic one, a hard metal one that may come with a handle or not, or even one that includes a ruler on the edge.

Baking Tool

When used as a baking tool, the bench scraper can be used to clean up a work surface of sticky dough and such.  It can also be used to cut and measure butter, chocolate, and other ingredients with the ruler that is on some of the bench scrapers.

It can smooth out frosting on a cake and cut the cake, or whatever pastry (or even pizza), when it is ready to be served.  While these are all great functions for the tool, we don’t often bake in my family, yet I seem to be washing the scraper every time I do the dishes.

Other Uses

It’s marketed as a baking instrument, but these functions can work for any ingredient, obviously.  For example, after you chop up something like garlic, the scraper can be used to easily transport it to the pan.

The same is true for any chopped vegetables, making the transfer much easier and cleaner.  Imagine trying to pick up chopped tomatoes in your hand to put them in marinara sauce.

The juice would get everywhere and before you could do anything else you would need to wash your hands.  Now imagine scooping them up with the scraper; nothing gets smashed or messy.

You could even use the scraper to cut or smash some of these ingredients, such as garlic, fresh herbs, or different kinds of nuts.  Also, as I did in my ceramics class, the scraper tool can be used to clean up a cooking area.

If there are leftover scraps on the counter, instead of sweeping them into your hand, which inevitably always leaves some on the ground, scoop them onto the scraper and right into the trash.  You would think I’m getting paid to market this tool, but I’m not.

Making Pasta

My family also loves to use the scraper when we are making pasta.  You can perfectly measure the length of the pasta with the ruler on the side and cut it to the desired length.

This is important for my sister because she seems to have difficulty keeping long fettuccine strings on her fork long enough to get it into her mouth.

It is also the perfect tool to use for serving.  It is easy to portion and cut servings out in a clean and fair way.

Don’t worry; Dad won’t get a larger portion of lasagna than you tonight because you will ensure the squares are perfectly measured.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many uses for this magical tool we call “the scraper.”  It can be used for its intended purposes while baking, or you can use it in almost any other meal prep.

I am sure there are more ways than transferring vegetables, cleaning up a kitchen or ceramics workspace, or managing portion controls.

My mom thought it was important for me to include that she uses “the scraper” to relocate portions of jigsaw puzzles or to gather and put away the jigsaw puzzle pieces after she has completed the puzzle.

If you have any other suggestions for uses for the “scraper,” please comment as I’m sure it will become my dad’s newest habit.  If you are looking for the perfect gift for any holiday, I cannot recommend the “scraper” enough clearly.