Customer Reviews

OXO Good Grips Dough Blender

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The OXO pastry blender is, in basic shape, much like any other pastry blender: it consists of a handle with several rounded "blades" that you use to blend butter or shortening into dry ingredients such as flour.

There are a couple of differences. One is OXO's spiffy traditional "Good Grips" handle, a soft, thick rubber handle that's easy on arthritic (or otherwise painful) hands. The other is that the "blades" are more like the thick wire that you'll find in a whisk.

The handle is a great thing; certainly I find it easier on my tendonitis than an ordinary pastry blender. The wire-like blades have one good aspect: they don't have flat sides for butter and shortening to stick to, so it's a little easier to scrape chunks of butter and shortening out of them, and it's a lot easier to clean them.

There are a couple of down-sides, however. First, the wire blades are flexible enough that sometimes large chunks of butter push them aside instead of getting sliced up by them. Second, the handle on ours actually cracked through, and the wire blades have gotten deformed slightly so they're no longer evenly-spaced.

This is a common theme among the OXO items we buy. They have great design elements that make it worth it for us to continue buying some of their things, but they also lack a certain durability under heavy kitchen use. A number of OXO items have broken under our care. And while we unabashedly admit that we make heavy use of our kitchen items, we do not abuse them. We're careful to take care of them, and have few cases of things gratuitously getting damaged.

I bake many types of scones and pastries that demand perfect blending. That means the fat and flour must be blended well, but not overblended. This tool has taken a lot of the hard work and time out of the old way of using two knives in scissors action. The overall balance to weight ratio is excellent; the handle is a good diameter and width, and the tines are spaced apart nicely. The design of the tines makes reaching all parts of the bowl to pick up flour a breeze. Cleanup is easy since you can toss it into the diswasher without fear of rust. I highly recommend this product from novice to pro.

I bought this blender to make pie pastry, and I was thoroughly disappointed. The wires don't cut because they just widen and the pieces of butter slip through..I spent a lot of muscle to obtain a very poor result. The handle is nice but it just doesn't get the job done.

The ribs are just too bendy for my taste. I use cold butter and lard so I need something that won't slip around the edges of the fat instead of cutting through it. I always used two criss-crossed butter knives and don't find that this works as well. I'd prefer the similarly shaped nut chopper to this.

i brought this at bb&B and this is one of the worst kitchen tool

the wires bent all different angels and don't do the cutting of butter into the flour as fast as the other ones.

don't waste your money on this.

I've had cheap dough blenders before, and the blades always ended out pushed out of line from the butter or from the dough itself... and they were impossible to clean! But the OXO Good Grips is fabulous... the blades don't move, so your cutting is always right on and even, and because it's so sturdy, the blending is done in no time! It cleans easily -- just toss it in the dishwasher. And the famous OXO grip makes it easy to hold and doesn't hurt your hand. Much better than cheapo dough cutters, and you'll never use the two-knife system again.

Usually OXO products are fairly tough and durable, but not this one. It is impossible to cut cold butter and flower with this blender because the wires just clump all together. You would have better luck with a fork and that isn't saying much.

I haven't found a replacement product, but I have seen ones that have solid metal stripes rather than wires.

There's not that much to say, is there? This dough blender works perfectly. It's much faster and more comfortable than the old "two knives" method. And it's sure easier to clean than a food processor. For making biscuits, pie or tart crust, or any other kind of baked pastry product, it's a great tool to have. It costs less than $10, so if you're thinking about getting it, stop thinking and do it.
A tip: if you're good at planning ahead (I'm not, unfortunately), you might want to try putting it in the refrigerator an hour or so before using it, which will help to ensure that the butter doesn't melt excessively before you can finish cutting it into the dough.

For me, a person who doesn't need something like this all that much, this was just perfect. It has a low price and is very comfortable to use. It works effectively and I have had it for about 2 years. In that time I have had to use it several times and it has worked well even on a dough that was mostly shredded cheddar cheese with a bit of flour. That kind of dough I would think is harder to work with than a regular dough and this worked just fine.

I don't know how this would hold up under daily use or in a professional setting. In a home setting with an occasional user like myself this has been wonderful. It has cleaned up very well which was a wonderful surprise. The grip was very comfortable even on the stiff cheddar cheese dough.

This is the kind of item that stored reletively easily and is nice to have in case you need it. For the price this is a great one to own.

I bought this reluctantly because I needed a pastry blender and this is the only one I could find. After reading the other reviews, I figured it would be fine. Big mistake. The butter pushed the wires around at first, then got stuck all over them rather than actually being blended into my dry ingredients. After two solid minutes of attempting to cut in the butter, I decided I could do better with my fingers. I was done in seconds instead of minutes. I will never use this or any other pastry blender again.