Cutting Crust off the Bread: Where’d it Originate and WHY?

Only milksops and sissie-boys do that.

It's considerate to that quarter of the adult population that wear false teeth.

Until soft bread became more common all you could get either done at home or from a bakery were things with a hard crust. Some for various reasons didn't like crust so it was cut off.

Hard crust does make a mess when biting down on sandwiches or toast, so it being removed leaving just the doughy center seems (or seemed) more refined. It also allows for bread to be shaped in nice uniform size, perfect for finger sandwiches or toast (think things served at tea, formal luncheons, etc...).

Even long after housewives stopped baking their own bread and buying store bought (think Wonder Bread), many still cut crust off bread used to make sandwiches for their family.

There's a scene on That Seventies Show where Donna Pinciott (Eric Forman's GF and maybe by then fiancée) was having a go at Kitty Forman for babying and spoiling her son, even now that he was a grown man. Eric was ill and asked his mother to make him a sandwich, Donna tells her she spoils Eric which Ms. Forman denies most strongly. This until Donna points out the sandwich Ms. Forman made still has crusts on bread. Ms. Forman jumps up as if she's committed some sort of sin and rushes to cut the crusts off....

As anyone who travelled by trains back in day, or maybe dined in higher end hotel restaurants can attest a way long was found to bake bread that produced square loaves with soft crumb.

The Pullman company of railroad fame is credited with inventing "Pullman Pan", but French had been making "Pain de mie" for ages.

Pain de mie is bread baked in a pan sealed with a fitted lid. Resulting loaf is uniform in shape and softer all way round including crust. Perfect for making sandwiches or toast. Since crust is already soft and bread square cutting off crust isn't really necessary.

I bake pain de mie in Pullman loaf pans (they're ingenious) but it does not actually produce a crustless crust. Apart from prisses, a true crustless crust is de rigueur only with tea sandwiches and similar "aesthetic" preparations.

As a sissy boy, I insisted on having the crusts cut off my sandwiches. This was regular white bread like Wonder Bread.

I also refused to eat rye bread, because I thought the caraway seeds were little insects.

R6

Mr. Joe Besser, is that you?

It's disgusting to do this. The crust is the best part of the bread, that's why I always go for the heel (highest surface/volume ratio).

Had a younger sibling who would routinely pull crusts off any sandwich served. This much to the annoyance of his mother (or any other female who prepared the thing), and often downright anger of his father (or any other male relative who observed such behavior).

In fairness our parents grew up during Great Depression and still kept to those values as adults. You just didn't waste food even though times were good and we all had plenty.

One day my uncle (kid's father) put his foot down and told his son to man up and eat the damn crusts. Kid made an almost fatal mistake, replied "I don't like it".... Speedy intervention by a female relative in time defused situation and saved kid from a thrashing.

Don't know about elsewhere, but it was common enough when I was growing up for many kids to take off crusts. Wonder and other store bought breads in plastic bags made it rather easy to do, you just tugged all way round and curst was off.

In our house and others crust was just thrown out onto side or back yards to "feed the birds", and they were glad of it.

R8

That's the horror of it all, there are only two "heels" per loaf of bread.

Nothing beats the heel off a warm freshly baked loaf of bread slathered with fresh butter or good preserves.

The heels are how I know that my bread baking Nana loved me most of al ♥️♥️

Ugh. Another thread about people who can’t eat like adults.

OP, this practice originated in early Sumerian civilization. The crusts were regarded as especially potent and nourishing and were reserved for the most manly, heroic members of society, as it helped to maintain the growth of hair on their chests.

Immigrants from Honduras in the 1950's.

All I know is Grandma said the crusts make your hair curly.

My grandfather always said it would grow hair on my balls, so i always asked to have the crusts cut off.

Not only do I like the heel from the loaf of Italian bread, I love it stale My mom used stale Italian bread in her meatballs and if I could, I’d grab the heel — but I had to sit outside on the stoop to gnaw on it because there was always an avalanche of crumbs.

Where is the scientist among us who wants to tell us that 90% of the bread's nutrition is in the crust?

Just like apples and apple-skins.

Do you prefer your bread cut or uncut?