April 13, 2016 - 7:00pm
let's talk spoons
I'm in the market for a sturdy wooden mixing spoon for bread. I love the 10-12 inch ones with 1/2" diameter handles. Those 3/8" diameter handle spoons are crap. Good for soups and sauces, maybe. Yeah, I have one or two, but I'd like more. Ideally hardwood and decently priced. Those I see online are never specific about handle diameter and cagey about material. I've see Chef's Craft (allegedly maple) at a decent price. The picture looks sorta like 1/2" handle diameter, but it's really not clear. Anyone have those?
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I know this is totally unhelpful, but I much rather use my hand as opposed to trying to hang on to a wooden spoon for the very same reason that the handle is too thin. If I don't feel like getting totally gucked up, I use a flexible dough scraper but those times are rare.
Uh, you use your hand for the sponge? Yep, that's about total gucked-up-edness
I use my hand for everything! I just scrape off the dough with my other hand and head straight to the sink when I am done. I don't have an aversion to getting my hand sticky for a purpose but when I am done, I need that sink. I hate having any dirt or stickiness on my hands as a rule. Drives me batty.
I use one of these - they're strong enough and the wire allows for more efficient mixing than a spoon, plus the handle is big enough to grip and have leverage with even heavy doughs.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/dough-whisk-15-long
Of course, my hands do a decent job, too.
Cathy
I prefer the silicone spatulas to any wooden spoon. They are better at incorporating all the dry ingredients and easier to clean to boot. Silicone is also much nicer material for pastry brushes https://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/small-silicone-pastry-brush
Gerhard
Or maybe I ought to say had - the spoon-like one (red here) snapped its acrylic handle... I still have another like the blue one here (mine are different colours). I think they're good for lighter mixes - don't recall what I was using mine for - maybe mixing up some rye when my dough whisk wasn't to hand...
I have one spatula that's identical to the red one here but with a metal handle - and I've never been able to find any more )-: The spatula/spoon bit is flexible silicon and really good. Hope it lasts a while longer...
-Gordon
Gordon you are right they probably aren't the most durable but it is the picture that came up on a Google search, the problem I have had with the ones with the metal handle is that the silicone part separates from the metal handle. The ones we use at work are from rubbermaid and I bet some of them must be close to 20 years old and don't recall a handle ever breaking but we have discarded some because the silicone part got cut up.
http://www.rubbermaidcommercial.com/rcp/products/detail.jsp?rcpNum=1962
These are a huge improvement over the non high temperature spatulas that where widely in use prior to that as they would harden to the point where they really were no longer useful.
on a spoon, try this link It's for a website called Chef's Resource. I'm not that familiar with it yet, but it seems pretty comprehensive.
Normally, I would have suggested Chefs Catalog, but I just found out that they were bought out by Target, then put out of business at the beginning of this year. I was rather put out - I have always loved their catalog and have bought several things from it over the years. The King Arthur catalog referenced in the posts above is also a great resource, but hopefully they won't succumb to the same sort of corporate greed and shortsightedness that killed Chefs.
--Mike
They were running a fantastic liquidation sale. I bet you saved a fortune by missing it!
Fit my bill on all counts for heavy duty wide handle stirring but I have to admit that the shape of Gerhard's red silicone spatula is a favourite. The handles are crap
, have broken so many of those plastic spatula handles I just pull them off and replace with a bamboo one before they snap.
Although I only use my hands and a silicone bowl scraper when I mix dough, I have one of these and it is far and away my favorite sauté and sauce pan spoon. Very sturdy with a wide handle as you can see from Mini's photo. If there is any one drawback it is due to a "short" handle.
Thanks, folks. But we aren't talking spatulas, plastic spoons, whisks, hands or how to stir. We're talkin' wooden spoons. Yes, I use my hands a lot, but not in the sponge stage, and I LIKE wooden spoons.
:) and some do have long handles... mineral oil it first after washing, drying and sanding for best long life.
Got it!
Gerhard
I use a wooden spurtle for mixing up levians, poolish/sponge and so on. For mixing bread dough I use my hand or a plastic scraper (or the danish dough whisk for Rye bread - most of the time!)
This is a spurtle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurtle
It's essentially a wooden stick.
-Gordon