The Cutting Board Trick For Keeping Crusty Bread Fresh

Your favorite bakery around the corner displays bread loaves cut side down for a reason, and it isn't just for aesthetic purposes. When using seeded slices for sandwiches or serving homemade sourdough alongside cheese plates, placing loaves with the sliced side facing down on your cutting board can help keep delicious artisanal bread fresher for longer.  

Particularly when working with crusty bread, the goal is to protect the firm, crunchiness of the crust once the bread has been removed from the oven. You have about two days when the bread is stored on your counter before you need to start watching for dried-out pieces to hack off before preparing snacks and slices to serve with meals. If you're wanting to stretch out the lifespan of your crusty whole wheat rounds for a few more days, you may have to skip the cutting board trick and opt for plastic wrap or a breadbox. 

When entertaining guests, however, slicing crunchy bread and leaving the exposed pieces open face side down on cutting boards can keep thicker crusts fresh throughout the evening. This placement can protect the open side from drying out quickly and provides an attractive presentation for guests to choose from when filling their plates. 

For larger events and family gatherings, leaving bread on a cutting board is the perfect way to present your freshly baked loaf in an accessible, Insta-worthy manner. Leave a serving towel handy to encourage hungry visitors to slice their own pieces and help themselves. Should you find yourself with leftovers and hunks of partially-sliced bread, you can keep the half loaves on the cutting board to enjoy with avocado eggs the next morning or turn them into breadcrumbs. With a kitchen hack this easy, you'll be experimenting with a variety of at-home bread-making recipes in no time.