Prep & Assembly
Roll Out
Flatten dough evenly with a pin to your target thickness
Rolling out flattens dough with a rolling pin into an even sheet for pie crusts, pasta, cookies, and pastry. Even thickness is what makes things bake uniformly. Flour your surface lightly, roll from the center outward, and rotate the dough often so it doesn't stick or shrink back.
Rolling out flattens dough into an even sheet for crusts, pasta, cookies, and pastry. Even thickness is what makes everything bake uniformly. Flour the surface lightly, roll from the center outward, and rotate often so the dough doesn't stick or shrink back.
- Difficulty
- Easy
How to do it
- 1
Lightly flour the surface and the pin.
- 2
Roll from the center outward in each direction.
- 3
Lift and rotate the dough a quarter-turn often.
- 4
Check thickness and re-flour only as needed.
Common mistakes
Cold, rested dough rolls evenly; warm or under-rested dough fights back and shrinks. Too much flour dries the dough, while too little glues it down.
- Rolling dough still warm — it springs back
- Pressing only down, not out
- Flouring so heavily the dough toughens
Common uses
Tips & pitfalls
- Roll between parchment to skip flour on sticky doughs.
- Rest pie dough cold so it relaxes and holds shape.
- Roll pasta in stages, resting between passes.
Good to know
- Tool
- Rolling pin and floured surface
- Best for
- Pie dough, pasta, cookies, pastry
- Cue
- Even thickness, no sticking or shrink-back
Also called
roll · rolling pin
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