plastic or bamboo board

[jedovaty]

Hi:

I need a 16x30" 3/8" thick board for a certain lesser known albeit expensive gadget (clay roller... ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies 😬). If I had a planer and jointer, I would make this myself, but, I found out I can get cutting boards reasonably cheap.  There are two kinds: plastic (poly something or other, the white ones you see in restaurant kitchens) and bamboo.  The bamboo is nearly twice as expensive ($40 vs $70).  I can't decide.  Primary purpose it will serve as a base for rolling out dough, and secondly, well, as a cutting/surface board.  I'm concerned the dough will slide on the plastic one rather than be held in place while the roller goes over it.  On the other hand, having the ability to drop it in the dishwasher or spraying it with bleach/starsan is desirable.  Ignore the fact that I can't fit a 30" board in the dishwasher haha (when I remodel kitchen, I'm going to look at larger capacity dishwashers).  Bamboo is natural and will no doubt look nicer.  $30 savings doesn't make or break me.

Thoughts?

[rotuts]

poly

 

easy too clean , and sanitize 

 

easier on your knives  

 

the dough wont slide    at least it hasn't for me

 

if you lightly flour.

[Porthos]

Poly. RE slipping: Poly boards have varying degrees of texturing.

 

Not related to dough slippage, I only buy poly boards with built-in anti-slip features so they won't move around on the counter.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Porthos (log)

[rotuts]

some ploy boards have the anti slip features on the ends.

 

mine do

 

but are not ' commercial ' 3/4 "

 

use a towel under the board if the board itself seems prone to slip.

 

the towel trick works w almost every thing.

Edited April 12, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[Porthos]

16 minutes ago, rotuts said:

use a towel under the board if the board itself seems prone to slip.

When I was still coking in my ren faire kitchens I used the towel trick for 15" x 20" board when I was breaking down larger cuts of meat before cooking. I used a bath towel that had the added advantage of soaking up the blood runoff.

[pastrygirl]

I think whether your dough sticks or slips has more to do with the dough than the board.

[Smithy]

If you like the aesthetics of wood over plastic, you might consider a cutting board by Epicurean. They are guaranteed dishwasher-proof and easy on knives. They are also considerably more expensive than bamboo or poly, I fear, unless you can find them on sale someplace.

 

Disclaimer: I have some and have run them through the dishwasher, but haven't had them long enough to know how well they hold up over time.

[teonzo]

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

When I was still coking in my ren faire kitchens I used the towel trick for 15" x 20" board when I was breaking down larger cuts of meat before cooking. I used a bath towel that had the added advantage of soaking up the blood runoff.

 

I hope the dirt towels were used for some jokes with the faire attendants.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[teonzo]

At home I have a 20"x25" PEHD cutting board. I got it because I have granite countertops and that's the worst ever when rolling dough, or it sticks like glue, or you need to dust it heavily with 1 kg flour, then the dough slips like soap, no middles. With PEHD I don't have much problems, the dough tends to stick a bit but it takes just a light dusting to solve everything. Wood would be better, though.

But my experience with PEHD for rolling dough is pretty limited, I use it only at home and not frequently. I use it for laminated doughs (puff pastry, croissants...) or for pasta for ravioli.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[jedovaty]

Great, thank you all for the opinions, this was really helpful!

 

@Smithy  I had looked at the epicurean boards, and in addition to the cost, I couldn't find custom sizing on their site.  I think there's another company I ran across once a while back that manufactures the boards or sells them in their own name as pizza peels, and they could do it if I really wanted.  A family member of mine has the cutting board and loves it.  Cutting on this board will be more of a secondary use, given just how big it is and what a pain it'll be to wash until I get a larger dishwasher.

 

@teonzo I have granite countertops, too, they are a pain.  My use would be same as yours.

 

Just discovered another site that makes the poly ones, but adds color to them.  Neat

[JoNorvelleWalker]

21 minutes ago, jedovaty said:

Great, thank you all for the opinions, this was really helpful!

 

@Smithy  I had looked at the epicurean boards, and in addition to the cost, I couldn't find custom sizing on their site.  I think there's another company I ran across once a while back that manufactures the boards or sells them in their own name as pizza peels, and they could do it if I really wanted.  A family member of mine has the cutting board and loves it.  Cutting on this board will be more of a secondary use, given just how big it is and what a pain it'll be to wash until I get a larger dishwasher.

 

@teonzo I have granite countertops, too, they are a pain.  My use would be same as yours.

 

Just discovered another site that makes the poly ones, but adds color to them.  Neat

 

EXO is the company that makes peels using Epicurean composite (as well as wood peels).

 

[Dr. Teeth]

Bamboo cutting boards are on my list of least favorite things.    I find they are too hard and blunt my knives like crazy.  

[AlaMoi]

couple of odd thoughts . . .

 

16 x 30 . . . inches, one presumes?  40 x 76 cm?

 

#1 - not gonna go in a home dishwasher

#2 - any plastic 3/8 thick will (eventually) warp

 

might want to look at flexible pastry mats.  16x30 is a size issue; big ones will be a $ issue.

 

dunno' about the granite issue.  I roll out pizza dough, puff pastry, pie dough, biscuits, etc right regular on granite.

in fact, my (prior house) marble board has inches of dust on it, down in the basement.....

Edited April 17, 2020 by AlaMoi (log)

[jedovaty]

Well, the company I was going to buy the cheaper plastic board from has an attitude problem so I decided to look elsewhere and have been procrastinating this purchase, especially since ambient temps are now too warm to work with laminated dough (it can be done, but I'm not interested in making a fuss out of it).

 

@AlaMoi

 - Yes, inches.  the double quotes following the measurements in my original post for 16x30" 3/8" mean inches   I usually do conversions when necessary, but was lazy this time, sorry!

 - flexible pastry mat won't work on its own, since it is flexible.  I need rigid to go through the roller.  I could theoretically get a flexible mat and use it atop some cheap plywood; I tried using parchment paper this way on the board that came with the roller, but it just slid around, very annoying

 - thanks for the caution against potential warping.. is this from the dishwasher, or just general use?  I only have wood cutting boards. A friend has had some plastic cutting board for 30+ years, I don't recall the thickness but it can't be more than 1/2" and it's definitely not warped? 

 

Rigidity is important, too.. I'm trying to figure out whether a 30" long 3/8" thick board will be rigid or flexible.  One of the reasons the company and I didn't get along, they were stating rigidity of the board was a "subjective" quality, and refused (rather vehemently) to tell me how much it would bend.  I'm not sure they had basic physics in school.

[AlaMoi]

16x30 is an odd size for a cutting board, but that's not what you are using it for....

 

I've used HDPE by the ton in material handling/conveying applications, a 30" length is very apt to assume a banana shape over time.

it will also depend on frequency of use - if it is used daily it will probably remain "stable" - sitting idle for long times it is more apt to "creep/flex/cup"

going thru a dishwasher will not help the situation, at all....

 

HDPE is extruded - hence it has a "grain"

these folks may be able to help with technical details - but their thinnest is 1/2":

https://www.eplastics.com/sheets/hdpe/cutting-board

[paulraphael]

Bamboo is one material I won't consider for cutting boards. They're all composites, with a high proportion of glue. You'll never know what they use for glue, or how hard that glue is. But the result is that most bamboo boards are extremely hard on knife edges. The whole point of a cutting board is to give you knife-friendly, technique-friendly, sanitation-friendly surface. Most bamboo boards fail at the first point, and there's no way to tell in advance if you've found a board that's an exception.

 

In terms of esthetics, I like end-grain wood boards. These are beautiful, and relatively easy on knife edges. The hype is that they're super gentle on edges, but that's not really my experience. My beloved Boardsmith maple butcher block dulls my knives somewhat more quickly than my crappy ugly poly boards. But I enjoy cutting on it much more. 

 

Rubber boards like Sani-Tuff are probably the most edge-friendly. Opinions are mixed on the cutting experience. They are ugly and don't smell good, but can go in the dishwasher. Poly boards are almost as ugly, almost as gentle, equally dishwashable, lighter, cheaper, more slippery, less smelly.

 

There's no perfect board. My personal choice would be my big (22 inch?) maple butcher block, and a couple of sanitufs in small and medium sizes. My girlfriend doesn't like the heavy weight of the STs, so we have poly boards instead. I also have a couple old wood boards that are used for bread, and for carving. I like them because they're pretty, and I've had them around almost forever.

[jedovaty]

Thanks, Paul.  The cutting board is secondary to the purpose of this board.  A butcher block will not fit into the clay roller.  I'm reserving my opinion on the knife's edge as I don't want to go there with this topic

 

AlaMoi, yes, the 16x30 is odd.  The original board that comes with it is about 16x24 (my tape measure doesn't have metric on it and I'm too lazy to read the smaller lines); each time I use it, I wish it had just a few more inches, that's how I came up with the 16x30.  Thanks for the link, they seem like more professional folks than with whom I was dealing earlier.  I haven't done the research yet, likely the 16x30 won't fit into any home dishwashers, probably not even 16x24.

 

I'll eventually make a choice, maybe I can find some food-grade plywood for that sense of pride (I made this!), or just get a thicker plastic board.  It's gotten warm out, so I'm not going to be making laminated doughs right now, no rush for me

[paulraphael]

I hadn't read the OP  ... thought this was just another what-cutting-board conversation. What kind of dough are you rolling? I don't find the poly boards to be especially slippery with dough, unless it's very low hydration. They are slippery on countertops though.

[jedovaty]

On 5/9/2020 at 8:23 PM, paulraphael said:

What kind of dough are you rolling? I don't find the poly boards to be especially slippery with dough, unless it's very low hydration. They are slippery on countertops though.

Laminated doughs so far including yeasted, reverse puff, and even the asian-style oiled doughs.  I also had luck rolling oats.  😁  I tried rolling out noodle dough but it didn't work well, so I'm sticking to the pasta roller.  When I first started using the roller, I used parchment paper on the board that came with it, and it was a rather unpleasant, messy experience.  I'm still procrastinating this purchase haha :p, but mostly because the weather's warmed up.