# Name for end piece of bread? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 23, 2007, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215 "2007-03-23T17:43:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/81 "2015-05-14T13:08:44Z")
We call it deckel or just decke. I think it is a Yiddish for lid or roof. I think I learned it from my wife. Before that I would have called it the end slice, although heel is also familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/82 "2015-05-14T13:38:59Z")
> [@Kat](#): > > Same here. > > That’s all it is really, one big piece of crust. Same here, never heard it called the “heel” before. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/83 "2015-05-14T16:03:22Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > We call it deckel or just decke. I think it is a Yiddish for lid or roof. I think I learned it from my wife. Before that I would have called it the end slice, although heel is also familiar. So you eat bread instead of brisket? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/84 "2015-05-14T18:58:39Z")
I’ve always called those slices the crust. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/85 "2015-05-14T19:25:15Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’ve always called those slices the crust. Then what do you call the brown chewy edge of a slice of bread? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/86 "2015-05-14T21:16:39Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Then what do you call the brown chewy edge of a slice of bread? That’s the crust as well. Contextual clues prevent any misunderstanding. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/87 "2015-05-14T21:30:02Z")
It’s a heel for me, and I live in Ireland, so I am surprised to discover that it is an American usage. I looked it up in the OED and the relevant entry says “The crust at the bottom (also, sometimes, the top) of a loaf; the rind of a cheese”. Not the crust at the two ends of a rectangular loaf, which is how I understand the word. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/88 "2015-05-14T21:41:45Z")
In Polish that part of the bread is called przylepka or kromka. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/89 "2015-05-14T22:35:45Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > In Polish that part of the bread is called przylepka or kromka. To follow up: another Polish-speaker I asked insisted that it is either pietka (pronounced as the previous posters indicated) or, more colloquially, “dupka” (little butt). ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/90 "2015-05-15T06:57:07Z")
This brings up fond memories. My mom always called it the “loaf ass”. Mom was a real card. She used to think loaves of bread were supposed to do chores! She’d joke, saying things like, _“that loaf ass didn’t mow the grass like he was supposed to!”_ [scratches head]_hmm_[/scratches head] _…hey, wait a minute; **I** was the one who was supposed to mow the lawn?!?_ ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/91 "2015-05-15T13:10:04Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > It’s a heel for me, and I live in Ireland, so I am surprised to discover that it is an American usage. > > I looked it up in the OED and the relevant entry says “The crust at the bottom (also, sometimes, the top) of a loaf; the rind of a cheese”. > > Not the crust at the two ends of a rectangular loaf, which is how I understand the word. Some wag recently asked Brennan’s to release a loaf that was all heel. A good sport in their marketing department sent them a one-off loaf of heels. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/92 "2015-05-15T16:38:19Z")
My dad calls it “pretka” because he says his Czech/Bohemian grandma called it that. He could very well be pronouncing it wrong, though. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/93 "2015-05-15T17:36:51Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Some wag recently asked Brennan’s to release a loaf that was all heel. A good sport in their marketing department sent them a **one-off loaf of heels**. I keep thinking the bolded portion is supposed to be a shaggy-dog pun that I’m just not getting. 😕 ☹ \ ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/94 "2015-05-15T17:53:08Z")
A quite common term for this in the UK is the ‘knobby’ or ‘nobby’. Surprised no-one else has mentioned this yet. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/95 "2015-05-15T18:16:05Z")
I’ve always called it the crust. I was an adult before I heard the term “heel” in this context. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/96 "2015-05-18T00:40:22Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > I keep thinking the bolded portion is supposed to be a shaggy-dog pun that I’m just not getting. 😕 ☹ > > \ Nope, just a load of heels packaged together like a normal sliced pan. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/97 "2015-05-18T06:47:38Z")
Today, I call it the heel. When I was a lad, my mother, rather than try to cajole one of her brood into eating what we then called “the crust,” would toss both of them into a brown paper shopping bag. On the first Saturday morning after the bag was full of stale bread crusts, out would come the Dutch Oven. She’d break up the pieces, and cook them with milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and raisins. _THAT_, my friends, is what “comfort food” means, to a kid. Yum! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Orson\_Carte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Orson\_Carte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orson_Carte)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/98 "2015-05-19T04:25:59Z")
I know this is an oldish thread but while bread nomenclature is again being discussed I got to wondering what other names there might be for what we used to call ‘The Sweet Piece’ or ‘Baker’s Kiss’. The (two) pieces I refer to were right in the middle of those old-fashioned ‘two-hump’ loaves; the part where the loaf tore in two. They had a completely different texture to any ordinary slice of bread and we used to fight to get them as kids. Also, in New Zealand the ends were pretty much universally called ‘crusts’. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/99 "2015-05-19T05:40:17Z")
When my brother and sister and I were kids we’d call it the “peep-full.” ---
**Author:** ![dbtoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@dbtoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbtoo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215/100 "2015-05-19T21:41:57Z")
My dad who was of Polish decent always called it the krumka. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-end-piece-of-bread/397215.md?page=6)