To want a functional pastry brush!!!

[ZansForCans]

Yes I know, stepford wifey thread of the day but I am so fed up with shit pastry brushes and I have bought several and they're all shit.

The silicone ones are annoying and flap about and don't work very well. But any other kind I buy sheds hairs on the food – surely that's a basic no-no in a pastry brush! (And I NEVER say "no-no", boak)

I'm not doing some kind of bake-off fantasy creations here, just everyday making the odd pie, bread buns etc.

So recommend me your fantastic pastry brush please MNers, I will cough for the right one that will last, work and not cover my pastry in disgusting hairs

cough UP that is!

Personally I love my silicon pastry brushes from Lakelands.

I second Lakeland silicone. Mine's 10 years old and not aged a day

I stopped buying pastry brushes years ago OP for the very reasons you mention.,

I found the silicone one always seem a bit unyielding and the milk or whatever ends up in blobs on the pastry. The hairy ones, as well as being impossible to clean properly do, as you say, just leave hairs everywhere.

I don't bake as much as I used to but long ago I just resorted to pouring the liquid onto a bit of kitchen towel and spreading it around as much as possible that way.

My silicones ones do last, but I just don't like the way they work. Don't hold much liquid and you have little control over it.

Hmmm pigs I'll try the kitchen roll method but it sounds ... unsatisfying.

I want to have the feeling you get when you paint with a paintbrush – but without having to eat hairs.

I have an old hairy one but now I just use my finger

I just use my fingers for wiping whatever onto the the pastry or a bit of kitchen towl never bothered with brushes

I like my silicon Lakeland brush.

But why not just get a large synthetic artists paint brush from an art supply shop? A decent quality one won't shed.

Oh I'm so with you on this Op.
Silicone ones do nothing, everything drips off them before you get it even near the food and then just blobs out the remainder in one go.
And the hairy ones make my sausage rolls go hairy.
Irritating.

Goodness, I have been using a bristle one for ages and never noticed hairs escaping. Now I am wondering if I have served up hairs without seeing them. You have got me wondering!!

Happydays maybe you have the holy grail, a non-shedding one - what make is it?

Yes, the two outcomes you describe from the two different types of brushes seem the only outcomes available... I go silicon, as it just seems more hygienic, but I agree they are a bit pants. Pleasing day-glo colours though.
The kitchen roll option does work well too.

The kitchen towel method is unsatisfying tbh Zans but it beats having hairy sausage rolls.

YANBU to expect a pastry bruth not to shed. Buy a decent painbrush, it'll last a lifetime and won't shed. Wash and rub the bristles before using the first time. After use, wash,wrap in kitchen roll to hold the shape.

Another fan of kitchen roll.

Holdinghands

I've got a pastry brush with red bristles. Can't remember where I got it from as I've had it for years. It doesn't shed like the traditional ones but I prefer a silicon one.

You need to buy the ones that look like artists' paintbrushes. Preferably bound with metal. Those round wooden ones you can get from poundland are shit!

Silicon brushes are useless.

I like my lakelands silicone one, but if you don't, try regular plastic one. Flat with plastic bristles. Like on the photo.

I like the real paintbrush idea but I'd worry it wasn't for food use and I'd be ingesting some kind of weird art chemicals. Might have a look at sniff some though.

NoCake that looks like a contender.

"I have an old hairy one but now I just use my finger"

Quote of the week surely!

Is there such a thing -if there was I imagine Lakeland would do it- as a fillable silicone one? Like those paint pen things you can get with the sponge tip, and a reservoir for the paint. Except this would have a silicone head and bristles so rather than having to dip it in the liquid you could squeeze it out...

The ultimate MN pastry brush ?

Red bristle pastry brush Amazon £2.65. It's the one I have but didn't get it from Amazon. Amazon wasn't invented when I got mine

Pyjamas that's making me think of that playdough barbie hair system you used to get. (Or did I dream it...)

I've had a brainwave though - I'm now thinking of trying one of those boots travel spray bottles and spraying my pastry instead.

I use a paint brush that was part of a children's paint brush set, it is blue and green (well washed before I used it and does not leave colours) very, very rarely looses a hair, but if it does you can spot it a mile off, nice a thick and paints on egg/milk well, pretty sure it is the blue one in this set from Tesco:
www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=281469390
Proper bristle pastry brushes are total pants, tried all sorts over the years, they always bloody shed, so gross when you have to fish one out of your mouth!