I am a firm believer in having the tools I need in order to complete whatever task I have before me. But I am not one of those cooks who needs every shiny, new, expensive tool cluttering up my kitchen. There is, however, an inexpensive tool that's neither shiny nor new that I’m convinced will make your kitchen life not only better but easier and safer: the bench scraper.
In its beautiful simplicity, a bench scraper is nothing more than a rectangular piece of metal attached to a handle, usually wood. At first glance, it seems unimpressive. What is it? Do you really need it? Trust me, you do.
What Is a Bench Scraper?
As the name suggests, you can use it to scrape your counter or board clean. (The “bench” in the name refers to the bench bakers used for centuries to mix, knead, and shape dough.) Wet doughs become infinitely easier to work with when you employ the bench scraper to lift and knead the dough.
The benefit is that less added flour is required because doughs seem to stick less to the scraper than they do to our warm hands. This maintains the hydration (ratio of water to flour) that gives you the beautiful texture and open structure that we all love in rustic loaves of bread.
Ways to Use a Bench Scraper
Dividing
The most common use for a bench or dough scraper is to divide dough. You’ll almost always need to cut your dough in halves, thirds, or even twelves..rolls, anyone? Dividing dough with the scraper seems intuitively easier and more exact than using a knife. Using the scraper, you’ll also get very clean cuts.
Transferring Ingredients
One of the worst things you can do to your knives is to scrape them on your cutting board. Every time you mince onions, or garlic, or any of the myriad things you chop every day, and then use your beautifully sharp knife to scrape them up to transfer them to your bowl, or pan, you rapidly ruin the cutting edge.
The surface area of a bench scraper is larger than that of a knife, allowing you to move more ingredients more efficiently.
Now, after kneading and cutting your doughs, as well as moving all of the ingredients you've chopped or minced easily, quickly,and safely, without any damage to your knives, you can return to that other use for the bench scraper. You can use it to clean your board or counter, and efficiently scrape the remains into the compost or the garbage.
Cleaning
There is one more tip that completes the trifecta of reasons to utilize that bench scraper in the back of your kitchen “junk” drawer. When you employ the dump and sweep method of measurement for things like flour and sugar, the sweep part is very important.
And nothing sweeps as easily and completely as a bench scraper.
A bench scraper is truly a must-have. Your knives will thank you, as well as your crusty, homemade bread. As a bonus, your knife will be sharp enough to cut that loaf while your fingers remain uncut.
