The best rolling pins

• The best rolling pins are comfortable in your hands, easy to use, and are made of durable materials.
• The Joseph Joseph Adjustable Rolling Pin with Removable Rings is the best rolling pin you can buy with thanks to a convenient ring system that makes it simple to roll dough to the precise thickness you want.

Whether you are 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. Of course, you can always get the job done with a wine bottle, but if you want precision, then it is worth spending the $20 (or less) on a top-of-the-line rolling pin that will likely last you for the rest of your baking days.

When most Americans envision a rolling pin, they think of the kind with two handles that you hold onto while the center pin rolls. This is called the American or baker's rolling pin. We didn't include any of these on our list because they are not as easy to maneuver, have too many nooks and crannies that make cleaning difficult, and there is the potential for parts to break or rust.

Instead, we mainly focus on straight dowels and French-style rolling pins, which have tapered ends. Many of the experts and professional bakers choose handle-less French pins and straight dowels because they like the amount of control it gives them. And, users report that there is a very small learning curve as you switch from the American rolling pin to one of the handle-less options.

Rolling pins are made from a variety of materials, including metal, marble, glass, and wood. Four out of the five rolling pins featured in our guide are made of hardwood. Wood provides the best value, 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. Marble has the added problems of being too heavy and hard to maneuver.

Our picks for the best rolling pins are based on our research of countless expert and user ratings and reviews. The main criteria we used for choosing the best rolling pins were their durability, design, and ease of use.

Here are the best rolling pins you can buy:

• Best overall: Joseph Joseph Adjustable Rolling Pin
• Best French pin: Fletcher's Mill French Rolling Pin
• Best dowel pin: JK Adams Maple Wood Rolling Dowel
• Best high-end: Tomnuk French Rolling Pin
• Best stainless steel: Ultra Cuisine French Rolling Pin

Updated on 8/6/2020. We updated prices and links and added a selection of relevant buying guides. We also removed the Ateco 20175 French rolling pin as our "Best on a budget" option since it was only a few dollars cheaper than the Joseph Joseph Adjustable and we stand by that as the better product and value.

The best overall

When a recipe calls for the 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 with Removable Rings.

What sets the Joseph Joseph Adjustable Rolling Pin apart from all other rolling pins is the removable disks. They transform the art of baking into a science. On each end of the solid beech wood pin is a plastic screw that holds four rings in place. The removable disks lift the pin 3/8, ¼, 1/6, or 1/16-inch off the surface you are rolling on.

The overall size of the rolling pin is 16.5 inches long and 2.5 inches in diameter. 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. Bakers especially like how even the dough turns out with this pin. However, while it is 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.

Joseph Joseph recommends hand washing the wood and not submerging it in water. Also, you should dry it immediately after washing.

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

Cons: The rolling surface is too narrow

The best French pin

For about $20, you can get one of the most elegant rolling pins around from Fletcher's Mill.

Baking is as much a science as it is an art, and that means that you need the right equipment for the job. And if your job involves working with delicate pastries and thin crusts, then the right tool is the 20-inch Fletchers' Mill French Rolling Pin.

It's one of the more elegantly shaped pins on the market. 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 it is particularly well suited for manipulating small quantities of dough.

While other rolling pins can get a bit clunky and heavy, this is not the case with the Fletchers' Mill offering. The Amazon reviews of this product note that the pin is great for making croissants, mille-feuille, and other baked goods that require quite a bit of finesse. 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 in a variety of different finishes and lengths, but all are constructed with the same attention to detail, and come with a limited lifetime warranty. But based on my experience thus far, you won't need to call in any favors for this guy.

Pros: Inexpensive, 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

The best dowel-shaped pin

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

This is another excellent JK Adams rolling pin that is made in Vermont out of hard maple wood and comes with a lifetime warranty. The main differences between this and the other JK Adams pin on our list are that this is shorter, wider, and doesn't have the tapered ends.

You basically use your palms to work the dowel across the dough. Since there are no tapered ends, it isn't as easy to make turns and create circular shapes for pizzas and pie crusts.

The pin can also be fitted with spacers to achieve precise thicknesses. However, it needs to be dusted with flour often and is not as agile as many French rolling pins.

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

Pros: Lifetime warranty, made in Vermont, excellent for rectangular and oblong shapes

Cons: Not as agile as the French rolling pins

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