Have you ever sharpened your pizza wheel? Have ever even thought about sharpening it? Yeah, me either. I mean, it's not like you need a sushi knife for whacking your pizza into pieces, right?
So, when I saw that a pizza wheel sharpener ($14.99) existed, I was surprised.
But...the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I have one pizza wheel that I like, and I use it for all sorts of things besides pizza. I use it for bread dough, noodle dough, pastry dough, focaccia, tortillas—all sort of things.
But I don't treat it like a knife. When I cut something with a knife, I use a cutting board that protects the blade and keeps it sharper longer. When I use that pizza wheel, I'm probably cutting on the counter. Or on a metal baking sheet. Or on a pizza stone. Or just about anywhere except a cutting board.
So, I'm guessing that it's not quite as sharp as it used to be. In fact, I know it isn't.
That's when I decided to give the pizza wheel sharpener a whirl. It's basically two ceramic rods that the pizza wheel fits between as you roll it back and forth. For a smaller pizza wheel or a non-fluted pastry cutter, the back-and-forth is enough to get the whole circumference of the wheel. For my larger wheel, I had to make sure I was getting all the way around. Simple though - just roll back and forth.
The result? Well, I have to say that my pizza wheel was pretty dull to begin with, so it took some sharpening to get a decent edge. But now I have a pizza wheel that might actually be sharper than it was when it was new.
One-trick pony? Yes. But I can't think of another way to sharpen a pizza wheel or pastry cutter.
About the author: Resident yeast whisperer and bread baking columnist Donna Currie also has a serious gadget habit. When her father-in-law heard about this column, he upgraded the nickname for her kitchen from "gadget world" to "gadget heaven." You can find her on her blog, Cookistry or follow her on Twitter at @dbcurrie.
Disclaimer: Testing samples were provided to Serious Eats.