Midwest Dowel

Roll your way into summer with our wooden rolling pins!

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:56:08 EST

Rolling pins are an iconic kitchen tool and almost everyone — even infrequent bakers — have one stashed in a drawer or at the back of a cupboard. Some people love their rolling pins because they help them to create flaky pastry and others find them a reassuring part of their home security kit. While any kind of pin will work as a weapon, choosing the right pin is more important when making pastry.

Rolling pins can be made from wood, stone, plastic, stainless steel or even glass, but many bakers and bloggers seem to agree that wood is the preferred material. That being said we did a little research including some well known food blogs and came up with some info that might help you choose your next rolling pin!

In terms of shape, there are two kinds of pins to choose from:

Rollers: These pins have a thick centre cylinder and two thinner cylindrical handles on each end that are attached to an inner rod that allows the larger cylinder to roll freely. Roller-style pins are used by grasping the handles and pushing the pin across the dough.

Although rollers are likely the most common rolling pin for sale here in North America, they require the exertion of a lot more force than a rod since your energy isn’t distributed evenly along the pin. As a result, dough is often stretched less evenly when you use a roller-style pin since more force is exerted closest to the ends.

Rods: Also called French rolling pins, these tools are rolled across dough using one’s palms. This style of pin is often preferred because it’s easier on your hands and wrists and it exerts fairly even pressure on the dough, so that each sheet is evenly thick after just a few passes. And although they might take some getting used to, here are a list of benefits to French style pins that we found while conducting our research:

Balance ~ The straight rolling pin is uniformly balanced and can roll out larger amounts of dough because it is longer than a rolling pin with handles. This balance helps to roll out the dough evenly and with some practice, it is easy to use.

Control ~ Because you are using the weight of the pin to help roll the dough out and also depending on your touch, you can add more pressure and feel the dough as it rolls out or add less pressure if you only need a little more.

Relaxed ~ I actually find myself more relaxed while rolling out dough, because I'm not gripping the handles and forgetting that I'm not handling the dough gently enough. Also, this type of rolling pin allows you to be closer to the dough and you are able to feel the dough's thickness while rolling it out and make the necessary adjustments through the pressure from your hands on the rolling pin.

Size ~ The Straight Pin is 18-inches long, vs. the handled rolling pin which is about 10-inches long. This is helpful in not adding edging dents which can occur with the other type of rolling pin at times.

How-to-Care for your Straight Rolling Pin:

Before using a brand new rolling pin, it needs to be oiled, to help protect the wood from drying, spliting or cracking. Mineral Oil is the best type of oil to use for protecting wooden kitchen tools and should be used rather than vegetable oil. Vegetable oil can turn rancid and that in turn, produces an unpleasant oder and flavor; not what you want on your beautiful pastry dough. Follow the recommended directions on the Mineral Oil bottle for how often to use on your rolling pin.

As with most rolling pins, you don't want to soak this in water, but rather wipe it down after use. If you do have a bit of excess dough sticking to your pin (because you didn't use enough flour--it happens), then wash it quickly with a little mild soap and warm water and dry it right after to remove excess water.

At Midwest Dowel we have several types of rolling pins to choose from including the aforementioned French Style, New York Style, Le Grande Pins, and Crumb Crunchers for smaller jobs in the kitchen! We even have a gift box with all four types, the perfect gift for any avid bakers you may know! You can check out each type here as well as peruse other Midwest Dowel products. Happy baking!

tags: Cooking, Rolling Pins

Show your support for the Cincinnati Reds with our mini baseball bats!

Mon, 06 May 2013 17:26:07 EST

In case you missed it, the Reds were in Chicago last weekend where they played and swept the Cubs in a series of three games. In the throws of baseball season (no pun intended) nothing is more exciting than showing your support for sports teams of the Queen City with friends and family.

Midwest Dowel can help you generate buzz for the Reds or any other baseball team that you’re supporting this spring/summer with our mini baseball bats! We have them in two sizes and they’re ready for painting or decorating!

Aside from the kitschy, nostalgic value these products provide, they can also be worked into anything remotely baseball themed! A child’s bedroom, sports paraphernalia displays, weddings and other possibly themed events such as birthday parties or sports team parties are just a few of the options where mini baseball bats would be a fun addition.

Or perhaps you have several teams that you support or have memories of and thus want to display several of them? Check out this link about how to create a mini bat display of your own.

Already done something cool for this or a previous baseball season? Send us pictures of your projects and you could be featured in a future blog post! Check out our mini baseball bats among a myriad of other products we offer here. Let’s go Redlegs!

tags: Mini Baseball Bats, Baseball Season, Craft Ideas

Tips and tricks when choosing drumsticks

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:48:42 EST

Did you know that Midwest Dowel sells hickory drumsticks? Well, if you pop on over to our website and peruse our products then that is something that you’ll quickly find out! We’ve been manufacturing drumsticks for years so we wanted to dive into the world of rock and roll and find out a little more about the ways in which quality drumsticks are important to a drummer.

The type of wood that drumsticks are made out of primarily affects the feel of the sticks. The feel has to do with how the stick transmits or absorbs vibration and how much it flexes. While maple and oak are also common materials for drumsticks, hickory is said to be a very well rounded wood to drum with.

The tips of drumsticks are very important too! While plastic tips give playing the cymbals a unique sound, wooden tips (which are the most common) give drums a deeper, more traditional sound fit for jazz and older rock styles.

Keep in mind

If you want to give your drumming a more orchestral or "epic" sound, you may try wrapping hockey tape around the part of the stick used to crash the cymbal. This results in an interesting crescendo-like sound.

While it’s a good idea to try out sticks of different materials and thicknesses along your rock and roll journey, be sure to have some spare sticks at hand. Once you find a pair of sticks that works for you, stock up!

As always, when playing drums wear protection such as earplugs. Snares in particular were designed to be extremely loud, but are played very near YOUR head and ears. You want to still be able to hear music and conversations when you are 80! Many drummers start noticing hearing loss in their 50s and belatedly start wearing protection then. Don't let this happen to you!

If you want to learn a little more about choosing and using drumsticks then check out this video that delves into that a little bit more.

And of course, check out Midwest Dowel’s own hickory drumsticks and other products to see if they work for you! Questions? Shoot us an email or give us a call and we’ll do our best to answer them! Contact us here.

tags: Wooden drumsticks, Tips and tricks

Organize your life with wooden dowels

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:38:29 EST

Dowels can be used in all kinds of DIY/craft projects, but they can also help keep you organized! You may typically think of them as just another material for such projects, but they can actually be used to keep all of your other supplies in check.

Below we’ve listed three ways in which people have utilized dowels for the storage/organization aspect of the DIY world. Embark on any of these projects and dowels will expand their potential usefulness into organization and practicality!

1. Cheap and easy ribbon organizer

Click here to see how one crafty crafter utilized a plastic crate and a few dowels to tame some wild ribbon!

2. Create extra storage space for crowded cabinets

If you visit this page of the ‘100 directions’ website, you’ll see how they took a few towel racks and some wooden dowels to store craft paint on the outside of already full cabinets. With a few tools and a free cabinet door they made room for 70 bottles of paint!

3. Wrangle your many rolls of wrapping paper

This post shows how someone took a few hooks and a couple dowels to organize multiple rolls of wrapping paper without wrinkling it.

There are tons of different ways to execute the above ideas, so these are just a jumping off point! Anything we didn’t think of? Contact us and fill us in! We love to hear customer ideas, projects, and feedback!

Need some dowels to do a little of your own organizing? Check out our website and shop online for all of your dowel needs!

tags: Wooden dowels, Craft projects, Organization

Customer wins 'Next Great Toymaker' contest 2012

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 14:18:02 EST

The Meijer Next Great Toymaker Contest chooses the best undiscovered American-made toys for your children, and in 2012, customer Gary Murphy of CircaToys won with his Wagon of Blocks (pictured to the left) for the ages 6 months + category.

The company

CircaToys is a family owned and operated business that designs and manufactures heirloom quality wooden toys that are handmade in Franklin, N.C. USA.

The company was founded in 2009 by Gary Murphy, whose inspiration for the first toy "Wagon of Blocks" came from the original toy itself, which he received on his birthday in 1942.

The original toy still exists, although beginning to show its age, having been played with by 3 generations. It is a simple toy made from basic wood shapes and threaded nuts and pegs that can be taken apart easily. It is a mechanical learning toy that opens the door for imagination building, hand eye coordination and is the perfect set of blocks.

The toys

The Wagon of Blocks is a mini-playground for the hands and mind, the sort of experience vital to learning - shapes, stacking, sorting, free-form building, and everything in between! The all-wood Wagon of Blocks breaks down into 40 different building blocks and pieces, perfect for the imagination.

A quick turn of threaded nuts allows the wheels to slide right off, and pegs unscrew from the front and rear axles, allowing for maximum breakdown. Kids find the cool, smooth sensation of the quality hardwood pieces irrestibile, and the sheer variety of ways the pieces can be assembled endlessly stimulating.

Aside from but similar to the original, Murphy has also designed a Racer, Boat, Train and what he calls Smartz Car, all with the idea in mind of kids getting creative with the component parts of these toys. He also makes cradles and doll beds that fit the standard size 'American Girl' dolls.

Your turn!

Created anything fun, creative, or nostalgic with help from Midwest Dowel? We'd love to hear about it! Feel free to contact us, we love everything from feedback, to questions, to stories about your own endeavors!

tags: Customer projects, Wooden toys,