Grooves on a bread board?

[DanielCoffey]

I would appreciate some advice on whether to get a bread board with grooves or not from those who have tried one.

At the moment I am using a regular flat board with no groove and crumbs from crusty loves kind of shrapnel everywhere when making the cuts on the first day. By the second day the loaf has softened enough to not fire crumbs everywhere so it is not so much of an issue.

I understand I could choose one which is flat, side to side slatted or has a perimeter groove. The board will be custom made so I have complete choice in what is done to it.

Pros and cons please?

 

[DamageInc]

Downside to a breadboard with grooves is that you can't really use it for much else.

 

[mhpr262]

Grooves in a cutting board will always be a pain in the behind, especially if you ever want to use it for anything else than cutting bread. Stuff will come to rest in those grooves and refuse to be scraped off into the sink or into the pot with the spine of your knife. You will have to put the knife aside and scrape each bit off individually with your fingers. Besides I have no idea why you imagine that a groove will help with all the flying bits of breadcrumb, because I am 99% sure it wont help at all. I wouldnt put any grooves in. Just accept that flying crumbs are the price one has to pay for fresh bread.

 

[DanielCoffey]

That makes sense and yes, I can consider the crumbs to be the price of good bread. Cheers folks.

 

[Michi]

If you want fewer crumbs jumping around, I can recommend this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009WDSH/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

The reverse scallops don't tear into the crust and minimise the number of crumbs that go flying.

I bought this knife about six months ago. (The first Wüsthof I bought in probably 15 years or more.) It turns out to be really useful. I've pretty much abandoned my normal bread knife because this thing is so much more versatile. It has a long blade, so I can cut off a slice of bread without sawing.

• It works well for hard stuff, such as pumpkin, because the blade is fairly stiff. Also good for watermelon, or skinning and cutting up pineapple.
• It works well for soft stuff, such as hamburger rolls, which tend to tear when cut with a normal bread knife.
• It makes for a good pastry knife; the blade is wide enough to pick things up and move them around after cutting them. You can also use it to spread icing or some such.
• It works well as a general-purpose slicer, for things such as ham, turkey, or roasts, and it's a really good brisket knife.

The reverse scallops are a pain to sharpen, of course. But I expect that, for my level of use, it'll be quite a few years before that'll be necessary.

 

[podzap]

We have this one for cutting bread because I have banned serrated blades on all of my cutting boards. My wife likes it alot. It is also REALLY heavy.

 

[Michi]

I do like the look of that bread board. The drawback for me is that I don't want to devote that much space to a single-purpose board in my kitchen. If I had a truly large kitchen, I'd go for it, together with a bread box with wooden slats. Unfortunately, that's not an option for me either. With the climate in Brisbane, you have to keep bread in the fridge for much of the year.

 

[podzap]

I do like the look of that bread board. The drawback for me is that I don't want to devote that much space to a single-purpose board in my kitchen. If I had a truly large kitchen, I'd go for it, together with a bread box with wooden slats. Unfortunately, that's not an option for me either. With the climate in Brisbane, you have to keep bread in the fridge for much of the year.

We keep this one in the top of a cabinet, way up high. Pull it out when there is a loaf of bread to slice up, then we bag up the bread and pop it straight away into the freezer. Take out a slice or two when needed.

 

[daveb]

I have a cheap (very cheap) board that looks like the one pictured above.

It's great for drying stones on.[emoji41]