Pastry Board- Kneading Board-Cutting Board PBB1 Reversable

I was looking for a large cutting board to knead bread on. I have a very small kitchen and doing so directly on my counters is challenging at times due to lack of counter space, in addition to my (illogical?) concern of leftover cleaning products on my counters getting into my bread. I have been using a silicone mat, but as some breads should be worked without added flour I was running into sticking issues, and mat moving issues. Unfortunately, I was having no luck finding an appropriate wooden cutting board until I happened to google 'kneading board' in hopes of finding a review where someone mentioned kneading bread on a cutting board purchas and learned kneading boards are a thing. After reading the reviews, and comparing a few different ones, I decided to give this one a try as the bulk of those leaving lower reviews said the issue was that they had to sand it before use (and I could do that). It got here in perfect shape (though the packaging could have been more protective - it didn't cause an an issue with mine) on a Friday, 6 days earlier than projected, and is nice & solid (heavy!), well made, sanded near smooth (I did not expect a 'finished' feel as it's raw wood in need of oiling). I oiled it that night for use the next day (food grade mineral oil). Saturday morning I started some sourdough pizza dough for it's maiden usage and fell in love. I was able to move this board where I had room (on top of stove, on counter overlapping sink a bit, on counter itself) as needed. When the dough needed to rest in place - I could let it do just that and still do other things because I could move the whole board! It is also the perfect size. Plenty of room to have 1/2 of the dough off to the side while you work the other half without feeling cramped in space (the 2nd pic is 2 12" pizza pans). This board, for me, is a zero regret purchase. I have had it a bit more than a week, and already used it three times. Cleanup is easy, and I don't have to worry about chemicals in my bread. It also provides me a moveable work area for other meal prep times. I would buy again, and would recommend both the board type, and this specific one. It certainly could be used as a large cutting board - but this makes life so much easier for me when making bread (and perfect timing, as we are heading into bread baking season!).

I first owned a pastry board like this one, about ten years ago. At the time, I really liked it. It was a joy to use. Then one day, on one of my wife's haphazard forays in the kitchen, she proceeded to heat some oil in a skillet, then managed to lock herself out of the house. I received a phone call to come let her into the house, and after a twenty minute drive through rush hour traffic, I arrived to unlock the door. Upon stepping inside, I was greeted by a dense gray layer of fog in the kitchen that started 4 feet above the floor, and rose to the ceiling. At that instant, without warning or reason, my wife decided to take the now red hot skillet off the stove. Yep..... she set it down right on top of my pastry board, where the near molten skillet created a 12 inch diameter charcoal brand. You know those scenes in the movies where they play a catastrophic event in slow motion and the observer is powerless to stop it, and all you hear is "NOOOO-o-o--o-o-o-o-oo--o-o-o-o-o-o-" in a slow low pitch? That is exactly how this played out in my head in real time.... things just slowed down, and I couldn't stop it. All I can say, is that there is good reason why nearly all the great chefs in the world are men. For years, I used the pastry board with the branded side down, until one day I could no longer bear looking at it. Fast forward to present time, I have recently been trying my hand at bread baking, and have had some very nice results. It was time to get a new pastry board. Even though this style of pastry board, brought back painful memories of my last boards incendiary demise, I pushed though that. and ordered this nice new on by Tableboard Co. here on Amazon. I remember I paid $120 for this board http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004S7U1 in 2003, so I was happy to find the larger Tableboard version at $83. The only thing I liked better about the previous J.K Adams board, was that it was glued together with a lot more narrow boards, as opposed to the smaller quantity of wider boards used in the Tableboard Co. product. A larger quantity of narrow boards make for a more dimensionally stable product that is less likely to warp. The Tableboard shouldn't warp if you take proper care of it. I plan on using mine only for pasty, and I will definitely keep it out of my wife's reach. Wood is a natural product, and as such, requires regular maintenance. The Tableboard Co pastry board is made of hard maple which is a closed grain wood that won't absorb much. I plan on cleaning excess flour off mine with a stiff nylon vegetable brush. Once in a while, I disinfect my wood cutting boards with a mixture of 50% 190 proof grain alcohol + 50% white vinegar, I keep a mix of this in my kitchen, and it works well. After I use it, I always let the board air dry, then treat it with food grade mineral oil. I cringed when I read that one reviewer here treated their board with olive oil. Please don't do that... nor should you treat your wooden boards with any other type of vegetable oil... not even once. Once you do, that vegetable oil will be a permanent part of your board, and vegetable oils WILL turn rancid over time. Use food grade mineral oil only! This is a pastry board... treat it as such. That means don't use it as a cutting board, or if you use it as a cutting board, don't use it as a pastry board. Anything dough related, deserves its own dedicated work surface. Don't ever let a wooden board lay on your counter top if the side facing down is wet.... that's the quickest way to warp it. The Tableboard pastry board has a lip that makes it easy to let the board set off the counter to let air flow underneath. Take good care of it, keep it away from destructive forces such as spouses, and it'll last a lifetime. Finally, keep it stored away when not in use. I keep mine in a D size drawing portfolio similar to this one: http://www.amazon.com/Tran-24-Inch-36-Inch-Student-Portfolio/dp/B004YA7MZI Keeping it stowed away when not in use, keeps it out of harms way, and clean

There is nothing I dislike about this board. It is everything I was looking for and more!! It is huge and it’s the perfect work surface. I don’t have a photo, but it’s as wide as my dishwasher and goes almost all the way to the back edge of the counter top. I did not have to do anything like sand it, there were no sharp edges, came in perfect condition. I guess the packaging could have been a little better, but since the product had zero damage all is good. I did not know about using the food grade mineral oil so I had to wait till I received that and treated the board before using which took and extra day. I also used the food grade wood wax with bees wax which made the board so easy to clean after using!! Just wiped with a damp paper tower and clean. I love the edges that prevent slippage and the flour from escaping off the back of the board AND the fact that’s it’s made in the good ol’ USA!! I’m using mine specifically for breads, pie and pizza dough, and homemade pasta dough so there will be no cutting on either side of this board. I will use a different board for that. Kept in good condition, it will be something to hand down to a family baker!!