The Kitchen Tool Claire Saffitz Swears By For Tidier Bread-Making
When you're making a loaf of bread, you'll want to make sure your work surface is evenly dusted with flour before you begin kneading. This step can help prevent your dough from sticking to the surface if it's a little sticky to the touch, and you can focus on the signs that your bread is well kneaded.
Dusting can, of course, be done by hand. You'll need to grab a pinch of flour from the bag and lightly sprinkle it over your workspace before laying out your dough to knead. The issue with this, though, is that it can lead to an uneven dusting of your work surface. While some areas might wind up with larger clumps of flour, others might be too sparse.
Fortunately, there is one tool that can come in handy to ensure an even spread of flour. And when it comes to baking, Claire Saffitz likes to keep some cleanliness to her workspace. When she wants to flour her surface before baking bread, she keeps the flour contained with the help of a dusting wand. "It offers a ton of control, so I don't have flour flying everywhere when I'm dusting a work surface," she told Bon Appétit.
How does Saffitz use the wand?
Saffitz said that her use of the tool was "unexpected," but she now considers it an invaluable part of her baking routine. She even showed it off in her "13 Kitchen Gadgets Claire Saffitz Can't Bake Without" YouTube video. To use it, she scoops up flour while the tool is open, then closes the mesh top to enclose it. As she shakes the wand over her workspace, a light dusting of flour spreads evenly on the countertop.
She also noted that the tool could be used to finish cakes with powdered sugar. However, she did share that flouring a surface and dusting the top of her dough was a more common use of it in her kitchen. You should always sift your flour to break up those clumps, even if it's just being used for dusting.
Saffitz uses an Oxo-branded wand, which retails for around $12. There are some lower-priced options from other brands, too. But Saffitz did call it "a rather specific item," so if you decide you don't want to purchase a kitchen tool that you might only use sparingly, there are a couple of substitutions you could try instead.
What to use instead of a dusting wand
If you don't have a dusting wand on hand, you're not entirely out of luck. There are a few other kitchen tools that could make suitable substitutes. Firstly, you could put a pinch of flour into a fine mesh sifter and dust it around your countertop. Or, if you have a flour sifter with a crank in your cupboard, the tool could work to eliminate clumps of flour as well. Both will break up lumps of flour easily without making a mess, leaving you only with a fine, powdery coating.
If you often enjoy a cup of tea alongside your breakfast, you may have a metal tea infuser on hand. These are typically made of a fine mesh, so you can place some flour inside and lightly shake it over your work area to evenly coat the space. A tea steeper can also be used to sift powdered sugar on top of baked goods.
The next time you plan to bake a batch of bread, you may want to invest in a dusting wand. The kitchen tool may just make sprinkling flour a little bit easier and make for a more evenly-coated kneading surface.