What is your best tool for cleaning sticky dough off utensils and bowls? I've tried a lot of things and most of them were left a sticky mess after the cleaning job was complete.For me sponges and Scotch-brite pads didn't work too well. Most brushes were difficult to clean afterwards. The OXO brush below works very well for me. Much better that other "palm" brushes. I cleans very easily with a quick rinse.
This is what I've come up with so far.
My #1 Oxo Soap Dispensing Palm Brush
Second Place (not near as good, though) Stainless Steel Scouring Pad
You can click the links to see on Amazon.
Anyone have any other ideas?
--Dan
or plastic netting that comes with some vegetables or fruit. My favourite is the garlic bag with the ends cut off to form a tube. Scrubs well when rolled up like a donut and can be easily rinsed and washed. Also handy are small nail brushes. I have one scrub brush with stiff plastic bristles for the banneton when needed.
almost forgot.... Try to remove most of the dough with a pinch or two of all purpose flour, the left over bench flour is good and rub the dough bits into the trash can...BEFORE... the utensils make it to the sink. The less in the sink the better. Just rub a little flour around and it rolls right off... hands too. Keep the garbage bin right next to you while working.
Another vote for cold water and minimising waste dough and flour. Cooks use hot liquids to turn flour into thick sauces, and I learned the hard way that this also happens with dough and flour sweepings if hot water's used. No sticky encounters using cold water.Happy baking!
...makes the clean-up much easier. The acidified water dissolves the sticky dough better than plain water.
I throw my scrapers,brushes, utensil, mixing hook/paddle, bowl,etc into a sinkful of cold water just after they are used to soak. Never a problem. Get all the goo off and then fill the sink with hot suds to finish the job. Don't EVER let the flour/water dry on anything as it is like glue-esp rye! If you do-soaking will do the trick but it will take a long time to penetrate and will still require mechanical scraping. Been there-done that.
Ounce of Prevention worth a pound of cure. Or for the metric fans....a gram of prevention is worth a kilogram of cure. :)
Personally I work very hard to remove any and all debris while it is still moist. I use flexible scrapers for the bowls and more rigid scrapers for tubs. I will then use a bench knife to remove the debris from my scrapers.
Next I water down the bowls and tubs and replace their covers. This keeps what remains soft and begins the process of dilution. By the time I get back to the final clean-up most of the debris can be removed with a sink sprayer, follow-up with soap, water and a sponge.
The utensil I use most to remove stubborn dough is my hand.
Many professionals have commented that they just let the dough dry out in the pans and tubs, then smack them down on a hard surface where the debris falls out of the containers. What remains can be wiped out with a clean cloth.
I'm going to give the plastic netting a try.
I didn't know that hot water was a no-no.
I've always been concerned with wet flour going into the drain pipes. Has anyone ever had plumbing problems because of this?
--Dan
Wet dough down the pipes is basically glue. This is bad news.
I agree that the scouring pads are not good. For bowls, I let it dry and use a curved plastic scraper to clean the bits into the trash.
I prefer wiping my hands with paper towel and tossing it in the trash. My 2 cents... better for my sourdough cultures to compost it in the dump, then wrecking havoc on the plumbing.
my dough bowls lightly with oil before mixing. That really helps. After the mixture is removed I use a curved plastic scraper to get nearly all the leftover bits out (goes into dough) and then I soak it straight away in the sink with lukewarm water. Any other utensils go straight into that water. Little soaking is needed. The curved plastic scraper does a great job of loosening any bits in the bowl. This should be very little.
The residue on my bench top from kneading gets scraped off at an angle with my straight dough cutter (metal or plastic does not matter) and discarded into the garbage. It will be hardly anything at all.
Since following this routine I don't have any problem with cleaning.
Cooks Illustrated say that after experiments, cold vs hot water doesn't make much difference.
Personally, I toss everything into the dishwasher and everything comes out sparkly clean.