July 25, 2017 - 10:24am
Bench surfaces
Hi all,
I recently purchased a Boos cutting board for shaping my sourdough loaves. For those of you that use a cutting board as your bench surface, is there any reason to keep one side for bread making ONLY, or is it OK to cut things (like bread! and other non-meat items) on it as well? I thought I read somewhere to keep one side dedicated for dough work only, but I can't find anything to indicate that right now, and it seems wasteful to spend that much money and not even be able to use this fancy cutting board as a cutting board!
Also, as for caring for the board, is the consensus that mineral oil treatment is best?
Thanks in advance! My fourth attempt at the Tartine country loaf is currently bulk fermenting merrily away :)
Maureen
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for all bread making activities. It's easily cleaned and the bread always turns out fine. I have never seen any reason to purchase any special board. We have a smallish kitchen and space is at a premium
I cut all sorts of food on my cutting board and still knead my bread on the board. My advice is "KEEP IT CLEAN!"
Ford
Use a neutral oil like grapeseed or sweet almond oil (not almond oil).
we commonly do not use organic oils for cutting boards is that all organics break down and go rancid. Who wants to work find on a rancid board? Mineral oil has not shown to have any negative effects, although that doen't mean that we won't prove otherwise i the future. Mineral oils that are sold for cutting board use are fully excreted by the monad body so its not edible in that its not digestible but over a hindered years of use has not resulted in any publicly known issues with it.
and recommends mineral oil --- but you do have to make sure that you purchase the "food grade" (which is usually cheapest when purchased at a drug store, where it is sold for oral consumption as a treatment for constipation). There are other mineral oils (most often sold in hardware or general stores) that are not food grade and are not suitable for use on a cutting board or any food preparation surface.
The manufacturer of the board that the original poster has purchased sells and recommends an "oil" and a "cream" treatment that is a proprietary mix of food grade mineral oil and beeswax.
Please avoid using grapeseed or sweet almond oil or any other plant or animal sourced oil, as these will all go rancid over time.
Oh - and to the other question from the original poster: I absolutely agree that it seems uneconomical to not be able to use the cutting board for cutting, as well as for dough preparation. As has been mentioned, the big issue is that the surface will scar from the cuts, which can hold more flour and can also catch on the dough. If you are relatively careful, and keep the cuts to one end, then it can actually work to your advantage.
and wooden tools with unscented Vaseline. (can't get ahold of mineral oil) It's petroleum based and will not go sticky or rancid. Same category as mineral oil. Anyway, rub a fair amount on the wood. Set the board inside a sun parked covered grill (or use a low temp oven) to heat up the Vaseline and melt it into the wood. Great for your hands too! Sunlight will turn fresh cut wood darker so be aware of leaving wood out in the sunshine to heat up.
Same thing but I think that 'Vaseline' can only be used by the company that first produced it. It's more refined and a higher grade than Petroleum Jelly. If you're going down this route then higher quality for your boards.
Thanks, everyone! I figured it was unnecessary to buy all the various lotions and creams that the board manufacturers sell, but I didn't want to risk using something that will go rancid or attract bacteria.
Watching all the YouTube videos has demonstrated that people will work dough on just about any surface. I think it is more about what you get used to, and not necessarily the composition of the surface.
I work dough on the plastic surface i installed on a motorized table (up and down, not forward and reverse!). The top surface is around 43 inches by 60 inches and the tactility of the surface has changed over time, probably by dragging bench knifes and other scrapers across it. The more aggressive areas hold flour better so they are good for some aspects of folding and shaping. Other areas are very smooth and don't hold flour well. I use these areas for building tension, where I want a lot of drag across the surface.
No matter what you use sanitation is very important. The more porous the surface the greater likelihood of cross contamination. Clean your work surface often and well.
Jim
..and creams" contain alcohol to thin mineral oil or jelly so that it is absorbed faster into the wood for those with no patience. You can do that too. Use a high proof unsweetened like vodka.
For added aroma... let's see... I've got a shot of Apricot, and/or Williams pear schnapps 43% Alc.. Cherry or lemon might also be nice or white vanilla extract. Check the caps on your extract bottles while checking the alcohol %, if sticky or icky along the seal, don't use them 'cause the same will happen to your board.
Big Tip: Oh and don't cut onions on it unless you want it to smell like onions later on. A very hard aroma if not impossible to get out of wooden bread boards. (One finds this in older kitchens with a pull out cutting board with a drawer handle. Someone uses it for onions and it stinks forever.)