February 3, 2024 - 10:22pm
How to care for a maple wood kneading board
Hello,
So, I finally decided to invest in a nice maple wood board to use when making my artisan loaves. It came without any instructions as to how to care for it. The Internet is driving me crazy with so much contradictory information out there. Some say it doesn’t need anything more that wipe it with a damp cloth after using it, others just brush off the leftover flour. Others say I need to oil if 3 times before using it the first time and then every four weeks or so. Some recommend using mineral oil from the drug store, some say it contaminates the bread with petroleum, buy butcher block conditioner……and on and on and on.
Advice from all those experienced bakers here much appreciated, my head is aching from so much confusion!
thanks!
Share
If the board seems dry you could coat it with food grade mineral oil and let it soak in. When I clean mine I just wipe it with a wet rag and dry it right away. When really dirty I use a bit of soap and water and dry with a towel If it has feet then you can just let it dry on the counter, if not, elevate it a bit. Water is your enemy, long exposure to water will cause warping and cracking. If you really want a conditioner you can get some walrus oil off Amazon and use it occasionally.
i have made many cutting boards and have had zero problems
Thank you! And you are so right, often on the net you get more information that you can handle 😖.
Back in the day I was a woodworker, cabinet maker and carpenter for a few years. Whenever we built a hardwood countertop or butcher block, we would treat it with beeswax or raw linseed oil (has to be raw, processed is quite toxic).
Thanks!
Boos, a well-known (US) maker of cutting boards, recommends a mixture of beeswax and mineral oil. They sell some conditioners, and that's what is in them. I have used them for years, and even though the conditioner does soak into the wood a little (that's what you want it to do) I can't see how the small amount of mineral oil you might ingest or cook could be enough to be a problem.
Here's a link to a Boos page on care of wooden cutting boards -
https://www.johnboos.com/resources/care-and-maintenance/boos-blocks/
Some people really like walnut oil (I haven't used it) but supposedly it can take a long time to harden, and can even be dangerous if the person handling the oiled product has a serious tree nut allergy.
Thanks! I found the recipe for something like that mixture on the net years ago, they called it “spoon butter”, I made it and that’s what I use on all my wooden utensils in the kitchen once in a while when they look too dry.
I had thought about using it for the board but I wasn’t sure. I’ll check that link anyway.
I use a DIY concoction of bees wax and mineral oil. Works a peach!
Thanks! It looks exactly like what I use for my wooden kitchen utensils, I found that recipe on the net years ago. I just wasn’t sure if it would work for the board too.
It all depends on your particular board and how you use it. If it starts to look dry and more like bare wood, that's the time to re-apply the finish. Don't let liquids stay on it for too long, clean up any stuck bits of dough, and everything will be fine.
With my cutting board, before I cut something wet like onions or an orange, I like to wipe the surface with a wet paper towel. The idea is to let the wet wood squeeze the pores closed a bit so they absorb less water - in case the conditioner hasn't quite sealed the surface. After cutting the food, I wipe the board down with the same wet paper towel. In your case you probably won't be cutting anything wet (or anything at all) so you won't have to even do that.
Thanks!
What you do will be affected by how the board was originally finished. If it was finished with mineral oil, bees wax et.al., then you should use mineral oil. Professional maple table tops are typically finished with mineral oil. On the other hand, I recently bought a "butcher block" birch board/table top, and it was sealed with something else. Even though I have sanded it quite a bit, I can't get it to absorb much oil. It is long grain, and my previous experience has been with end grain boards, and they would take a lot of oil. Maybe it's just the direction of the laminations, I don't know.
See if you can figure out what finish it is. If it isn't mineral oil, I'd ask the manufacturer what I should use to keep it up.
similar to this:
I use the aforementioned beeswax/mineral oil treatment after every use. After first scraping it lightly with my 10" stainless drywall knife and wiping with a damp paper towel. Never used for cutting so as not to create knife cuts in the wood which might harbor bacteria. Stored on edge behind a bookshelf.
Thanks!
Does anyone knead on the counter top?
I do. I use a wood cutting board for cutting and chopping. I use the counter top for kneading. Would my bread be better or different if it was kneaded on a board?
I have a stainless steel counter table that I knead on (when I knead, anyway). I like the amount of friction it creates with the dough.
Hi,
Yes, that’s where I’ve been shaping my sourdough loaves for years and the results are excellent. The reason I got the wooden board was that on a previous house after years of scraping the dry flour left over after finishing my bread kneading/ shaping the counter got discolored in that section. It might have been a cheaper counter material than the one I have now but I don’t want to take the risk. Also, and on this I won’t know until I use it, I think that creating tension on the loaf when finishing the shaping will be more effective on a wooden unfloured surface than it is on my Corian counter.
I made a maple wood board for my dough work. I have not treated it at all. Damp cloth when needed. I do no cutting on my board.