It’s nearly embarrassing to be right here raving about what is actually an open-weave macramé dishcloth, however the Teiger Dough Cloth may simply be one of the best factor to occur to kitchen cleanup instruments in ages, particularly (however not solely) for bread bakers. I’m engaged on a bread cookbook proper now, which implies I’ve been baking bread on a near-daily foundation for months, and the Teiger has been a vital device for holding on prime of all of the dishes and kitchen cleanup. And I’ve come to comprehend that, whereas it’s a device that was created for bread baking, its usefulness extends properly past the baking world.
![Breadtopia The Teiger Dough Cloth](https://www.seriouseats.com/thmb/SuiAZZu-RzBdRAXi6N3QlWZNBDY=/fit-in/1500x1000/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/the-teiger-dough-cloth-7cc15a0a6de04ad4a7087b185bd871b3.jpg)
Breadtopia
Anybody who bakes bread recurrently will already know what I’m getting at, but when not, right here’s the deal: Bread dough is notoriously exhausting to take away from all of the locations it isn’t meant to be—fingers, bowls, dough hooks, counter tops, sinks, and on and on. Dough consists of two principal components: Starch and gluten, the stretchy, sticky proteins that give bread dough construction and quantity. When dough encounters water, the starches wash away simply, forsaking the gluten, which transforms right into a gummy goop that adheres tenaciously to almost every little thing it encounters. Delicate sponges and dishcloths simply push these items round pointlessly, whereas abrasive sponges, scrubby pads, brushes, and metal wool rapidly get gunked up solely, turning them into simply one other object in want of being cleaned. And due to the tightly-woven construction of those instruments, the gluten is difficult, if not unattainable, to take away from them, even when run via a dishwasher.
Critical Eats / Andrew Janjigian
Enter the Teiger Dough Cloth, a 12-inch sq. of acrylic thread twisted and knotted into an open mesh. Being acrylic, it’s versatile sufficient to bend like another dishcloth or sponge, whereas nonetheless being simply stiff and abrasive sufficient to detach stuck-on bits of dough from fingers, instruments, and surfaces with out scratching them. Better of all, its open weave magically prevents it from holding on to the gluten blobs, which as a substitute wash simply away beneath operating water, permitting you to maintain on scrubbing till the kitchen is totally spic-and-span. (These few bits that do cling to the Teiger often come off after a journey via the dishwasher.)
Critical Eats / Andrew Janjigian
Right here’s one other means the Teiger beats most different scrubby kitchen cleansing instruments: It’s sturdy. In contrast to sponges and scrubby pads that disintegrate, stain, or flip into germy petri dishes after every week or two of use, the acrylic (i.e., plastic) Teiger lasts for a very long time. How lengthy I am unable to say, however I’ve been utilizing the identical one for six months now, and I run it via the dishwasher each different day or so, and it stays good-as-new.
There’s one cleanup job Teiger particularly excels at: Eradicating dough from wood counter tops. Skilled bakers (and wannabe skilled bakers like me) work on butcher block counters as a result of they supply the correct amount of friction for shaping loaves whereas additionally remaining comparatively nonstick. Delicate instruments like sponges and soft cloths don’t do something to pluck off the bits of dough that stay caught to its floor, whereas abrasive instruments like metal wool scrubbies can scratch the delicate wooden. The Teiger, in the meantime, works a attraction on butcher block, particularly since it’s versatile and skinny sufficient that you may really feel the dough bits beneath your hand, permitting you to take away each final one.
Critical Eats / Andrew Janjigian
And whereas the Teiger was created particularly to sort out sticky bread dough residue, it truly is an all-purpose scrubby that the majority anybody would discover a helpful addition to their kitchen cleanup routine. It really works equally properly on the goopy, stuck-on bits of any form of meals, not simply gluten blobs, and it’s mild sufficient to work wherever with out the danger of scratching. It isn’t fairly abrasive sufficient to take away burned-on residues from pots and pans—I take advantage of a sponge and scouring powder or paste for that—however it does the trick on absolutely anything else. (I particularly like utilizing mine to scrub my stainless-steel sink on the finish of the day.)
FAQs
What number of Teiger Dough Cleansing Cloths are available in every order?
Every field consists of two Teiger Dough Cloths, one for now and one for afterward (or one to share with a good friend).
How do you clear the Teiger Dough Cleansing Cloths?
I often simply rinse it off and run it via the dishwasher with each wash (draped over the entrance fringe of the highest drawer). If it’s closely gooped up, I’ll let the material sit in a bowl of heat water for an hour or so after which pull off any giant globs of gluten earlier than transferring it to the dishwasher.