Bread knives are used for cutting bread and are one of many kitchen knives used by cooks. The
What Is a Bread Knife? Mostly, a bread knife has what's called a serrated blade. The edge you cut with has a series of sharpened teeth separated by sharp, scalloped recesses. The teeth are designed to split into the bread's crust, while the scalloped areas between the teeth slice softer areas like the crumb.
The bread saw knife, also known as a bread knife or bread cutter, is very useful for cutting this food into thin or thick slices. It is primarily characterized by its strong and long blade size with a wavy saw edge that allows you to cut without much effort or breaking the bread.
Pointed edge bread knives, which are often simply referred to as "serrated" knives, have sharp and aggressive teeth that are designed to pierce through the hard outer crust of breads using a saw-like motion.
A lame (/læm, leɪm/, from French lame, inherited from Latin lāmina, meaning saw) is a double-sided blade that is used to slash the tops of bread loaves in baking. A lame is used to score (also called slashing or docking) bread just before the bread is placed in the oven.
There's no better tool than a razor-sharp serrated knife for slicing bread, sandwiches, or tomatoes. If you don't agree, just try cutting a fresh baguette without one.
Essentially, a bread lame is a handle and a razor blade. It's used for slashing bread dough, allowing it to rise properly during baking without creating unattractive cracks in the crust. Better lames have removable blades, but there are inexpensive, disposable lames with permanently attached blades.
A serrated blade has a toothlike rather than a plain edge, and is used on saws and on some knives and scissors. It is also known as a dentated, sawtooth, or toothed blade.
Serrated Knife
A serrated knife, also known as a bread knife, easily cuts through foods with hard exteriors and soft interiors like bread, pastries, pineapples, or tomatoes. Serrated knives are known for their jagged or sawtooth-like blade edge that creates clean and even cuts without crushing delicate foods.
The serrated edge of a bread knife is designed to grip and cut through bread with minimal pressure, allowing it to slice through soft textures without crushing or tearing them. The best way is to use a sawing motion with the serrated edge knife.
Serrated knives are used instead of a straight edge knife, such as a chef's knife or santoku, as the serrated edge has a much better ability to bite into food that is either too hard (e.g. bread) or too soft (e.g. tomatoes) than a straight edged knife.
Unlike a chef's knife with its smooth, straight edge, a bread knife features toothy, saw-like serrations or scallops along its cutting edge. This acts just like a saw, slicing through food as you move the knife back and forth, rather than using downward pressure like you would with a chef's knife.
This tool is known by a variety of names, including dough scraper, dough cutter, dough knife, pastry cutter, bench scraper, board scraper, and bench knife. Some modern varieties of this tool have handles of nylon or silicone and even feature both straight and curved edges.
Can you sharpen a serrated knife? Yes, you can (and should!)
If you don't have a lame, there are plenty of household tools that you can use to score your bread. Try scoring with a serrated knife, utility knife, or a pair of kitchen shears or scissors. Bread doesn't need to be complicated. You can use the tools you already have!
Wrapping bread in foil works, too, as it is airtight. If you have round bread with a crispy crust like a sourdough boule, you don't have to wrap it at all. Put it cut-side down on a clean kitchen counter and let its thick crust protect the interior. It will dry out somewhat, but less than you may expect.
How does a serrated bread knife differ from a chef's knife? Bread knives are serrated because of how they're used to slice bread: in a sawing motion. This back-and-forth action combined with the jagged teeth of the bread knife pierces and slices through the bread's crusty exterior without smushing its soft interior.
A chef's knife is among the most versatile knives in the kitchen and can be used for anything from chopping to cutting. Common uses for a chef's knife include cutting meat, dicing vegetables, slicing herbs, and chopping nuts. The flat side of the knife can even be used to crush garlic.
Great bread knife... This knife cuts crusty or soft bread with ease- no tearing or crumbling. ... A Great Bread Knife... This knife is perfect for cutting those crusty loaves.
The best purpose of a serrated knife is for harder materials that require good bite in order to slice through. However, on softer materials, serrations may catch too easily and end up unwinding or unraveling the material rather than actually cutting it.
Chef Knife
Also called a cook's knife, a chef knife has a long, wide blade that tapers to a sharp point. This design allows it to rock back and forth quickly for fast mincing and chopping. They typically feature a straight edge to cut through foods smoothly in a few easy strokes.
The Santoku knife is an all purpose Japanese knife, adept at slicing, dicing, and mincing. The name santoku means 'three virtues' for the knife's ability to cut fish, meat and vegetables equally well.
“The proper technique is to place the bread on your cutting board and open your hand as if you're about to give someone a high-five. Place your hand on top of the bread to keep it horizontal, and cut at a 45-degree angle using your serrated bread knife.
A clean, confident score across the top of the dough with a bread lame (essentially, a razor blade affixed to a handle). The bread lame (pronounced “lahm”) is a key tool for bakers, though not every baker is dedicated to which one they use.