Why marble and stainless steel are preferred?
We all have heard from professional chefs to home cooks and also from cookbooks that a pastry dough must be rolled out on marble tabletops because they are “Cold”. But why though?
First, let’s take a look at why we must roll it out on a cold surface. All of the PASTRY doughs contain some form of fat (layered or distributed) may it be butter, margarine, or OH-MY-GOD-Lard, so to prevent these fats from melting in the dough and thus getting “absorbed” into flour is the reason for the same. If it does melt, your pie crust will have a texture of a wet shipping carton. When we bake a well-made dough in a hot oven the fat melts separating the dough sheets and the steam from the dough helps them to puff up and you’ll get those beautiful rich flakes that we all love so much.
Again to the question, marble is recommended to roll the pastry dough because “IT’S COLD”. But saying that is playing loose with the laws of thermodynamics because it is not one bit cooler than anything else in the room. But you’ll protest that it does FEEL cold. I totally agree. If I may ask, go to your kitchen (I’ll wait) and pick up anything (except the dog and the cat) and hold it against your forehead. Surprise! It’s cold. What’s going on here?
The thing that is going on here is that your body temperature is 37.5°C (If not go getchyoself tested for the virus) and everything around you is let’s say 34°C (Room Temp), here there is a difference of 3.5°C, hence you’ll feel that thing to be cooler. But that’s not all (I’m sorry), if you’re a curious head like me you’ll feel that not everything feels equally cool. That is because of the factor called “Conductivity of Heat”, hold a stainless steel knife blade against your head and then a wooden or plastic chopping board, obviously the blade will feel cooler, which is a result of the fact that steel is a much better conductor of heat than the latter. So when that object touches your skin and takes “its warmth away” your heat-deprived skin sends a message to your brain saying “Hey buddy, it’s gettin cold in here”. Of course, marble is not better a conductor than steel but it is 15-20 times better than wood and other plastic laminated tabletops. (Silver is the best-known conductor of heat, now go on and dig up your savings and get a Silver Table Top.)
So in conclusion it’s not a matter of the marble being cooler but how fast it takes away that heat generated from working with or rolling the dough. Yeah so what, I’m splitting the hair, if you wanna say that marble is COLD go on to say it, it’s an independent country. But take pleasure in knowing that it isn’t scientifically correct.
Images from:
WallpaperForu – Grey Black Marble Wallpaper
