Bench scraper (dough scraper)

A plastic bench scraper often has a handle cutout along one edge. Stainless steel versions usually have a rolled or fitted handle. The straight working edge slides under sticky dough, divides it into portions and gathers up the scraps left on the board.

Also known as: dough scraper, dough cutter, dough knife, pastry cutter, bench knife and board scraper. Names vary between shops: “pastry cutter” can also mean other pastry tools, so check the shape before you buy.

Which scraper is which?

• Plastic bench scraper: a firm, straight-edged scraper for dividing and lifting dough and tidying the worktop. Choose one that feels rigid enough for the job.
• Stainless steel bench scraper: a rigid blade with a comfortable handle, useful for cutting portions and getting underneath dough. Check that your worktop is suitable for a metal edge.
• Flexible bowl scraper: a bendy scraper with a curved edge that follows the inside of a mixing bowl. Use it to gather dough or mixture from the sides; it is not the same as a rigid bench scraper.

How to use a bench scraper

1. Scrape and lift: grip the handle edge with one hand and push the blade along the board, sliding it underneath the dough to loosen and lift it.
2. Cut: push the straight edge down through the dough to divide it into portions, rather than pulling and tearing it.
3. Shape: use short, controlled movements to tuck and turn the dough. The other hand only lightly steadies or guides it with the fingertips; it does not provide the pushing force.
4. Clean up: scrape loose flour and dough scraps together, then wash the work surface as usual.

A bit of history

The French call the curved bowl scraper a corne, meaning horn, because it was once made from animal horn. Today it is usually plastic, but the job is the same: moving, loosening and cutting dough, and scraping the bench and bowls clean.

Traditional French bakers kneaded by hand in a wooden trough called a pétrin. Their main tool was the raclette or racloir, a metal scraper, sometimes with a short handle, for gathering dough that stuck to the wooden sides. Some kneading chests, known as maies, even had a small drawer to keep the scrapers in. To divide the dough into pieces, the baker used a coupe-pâte: a simple iron blade, with or without a handle.

Today’s bench scraper is usually a small sheet of stainless steel with a handle of wood or plastic, or simply a rolled edge. It goes by plenty of names: dough scraper, dough cutter, bench knife and board scraper among them.