July 20, 2024 - 12:22am
Bread knife
Hi All
I'm having a hard time slicing my sourdough loaf with my current bread knife. First of all , it's too short at 8". It's really hard to slice through the bottom of the loaf too. I saw some bow slicers on amazon and was thinking of getting one. Has anyone tried that type of a slicer and can anyone recommend a longer knife that does a good job? Thank you
LL
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I don't have a specific recommendation. The one I usually use has a 9-inch blade and I don't feel a need for it to be longer. But I don't bake very large loaves, mostly 1 to 1 1/2 lb batardes and boules. I had a bread knife that was 14 inches long but that is too long, I think. It forces me to keep the knife nearly horizontal or it will hit the cutting board with its tip.
Get one with an offset handle so your hand will stay clear of the cutting board when you get down to the bottom. The cutting edge should be slightly curved rather than straight. The curve helps you to control the location of highest pressure as you cut and also helps when you get down to the bottom crust.
When I get to the bottom of a loaf with a harder bottom crust, I will rotate the loaf around its lengthwise axis so that I can concentrate the knife's teeth at one point instead of along the whole width of the loaf. This helps.
I found, particularly with soft freshly baked loaves, that flipping the loaf (usually a boulle) upside down and , in effect, cutting from the bottom of the loaf towards the top with a serrated knife improved the cutting no end as you can see the straight line of the cut better and can wedge the loaf well on the cutting board using the curvature of the top crust to give you a good sawing action from the higher edge of the bottom of the loaf nearest to the cutter towards the lower edge of the bottom of the loaf further from the cutter.
Being gifted a very good quality long (30cm) and thick/unbending bladed Japanese serrated knife also helped!
Upside down can be too hard on the tops, at least with my typical breads. Raising one edge of the bread up off the cutting board can be very helpful. So can starting the cut tilted instead of horizontally. It depends a lot on the loaf you're working with.
I got the 10" version of this one last year and it works well for me:
https://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-M23890BL-Millennia-9-Inch/dp/B087CD8NM7/
Different color handles are priced differently.
I also have an old 9" Fiskars with wider serrations that I like too. It's important that the blade be stiff to get a straight cut.
Yes, I see it has the features: slightly curved edge, offset handle (it could stand a little more offset, I think). I hadn't thought about stiffness but that's useful too.
I've never used one, but did read that it might be difficult to slice all the way through the bottom crust. That's because the wooden section that holds the blade is thicker than the blade itself and will touch the cutting surface before the blade. That would seem like a major drawback in a bread knife, so perhaps that matter is addressed in the Amazon comments, I didn't look them up. There could also be a problem if you are left-handed and the blade is not reversible.
I use an electric meat slicer to cut bread. The space between the guide and the blade is 7.25", so it wouldn't work on a larger loaf. Otherwise, it works great and the slices are of adjustable and uniform thickness.
Thanks for the input everyone. I've decided to go with the Mercer bread knife after reading some really good reviews!
Remember to come back and tell us how you like it, if you would.
I purchased the same Mercer back in 2020. Far superior to my prior bread knife. Caution is that it is so sharp that I did actually cut my finger the first time I washed it. You will quickly learn to respect the blade on this knife.
This is my standard gift for people who need a good bread knife. I replace mine about every 10 yrs since they are impossible to sharpen for less than the cost of a new one.
Mercer Culinary M23210 Millennia Black Handle, 10-Inch Wide Wavy Edge, Bread Knife
I bought one for a friend two weeks ago and it was less than $20.
is tedious but not difficult. The key is to get a tapered sharpening rod that has a radius which matches that of the serrations. And then clean up using a normal stone for the bottom of the teeth.
My Fiskars knife is 30+ years old and I've sharpened it 3-4 times. It is less aggressive than the Mercer but actually cuts cleaner. I use this rod:
https://www.amazon.com/Smiths-DRET-Diamond-Retractable-Sharpener/dp/B001910FOA/