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During the year that I lived in Paris, I visited famed kitchen store E. Dehillerin time and time again. But it was the first item I purchased that turned out to be the most useful thing I ever got there—by far. A bench scraper that couldn’t have cost more than a couple of Euros.
I pull it out all the time to help me perform countless kitchen tasks, from scraping batter out of a mixing bowl to scooping up a chopped onion and moving it from board to pot. When I mix high-hydration bread dough it becomes like an extension of my hand, helping me move and manipulate the dough without getting it stuck to every inch of myself and the work surface. The flexible plastic E. Dehillerin model is my favorite, but a rigid metal one is great too. I use it to get underneath rolled-out cookie or pie dough, scrape caked-on bits from a work surface, or ice a cake to smooth perfection.
Another reason I like the metal ones? Not only does it provide a built-in straightedge for cutting (scones, for example), but sometimes that straightedge comes with ruled markings. Because you need a ruler surprisingly often when it comes to baking, this earns major bonus points. I have so come to prize my bench scrapers that I started giving them as gifts. Keep one by your side in the kitchen and start to see how it helps you breeze through task after task.
