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bread knives

post #1 of 18
12/2/07 at 10:09am
Thread Starter 
Does anyone know of a reeeeeally good bread knife. I bake "artisan" bread, quite a few breads with a "European" crust, and my bread knives have been a joke. My Henkels is pathetic, hardened schmardened. It looks like you've sawed metal with it, and all I've ever cut on it is bread. (:blush: geez, sounds like my bread is awful, but honest, it's the knife;)).

My grandparents always cut bread with a very sharp Mac knife (ie un-serrated), I've been using my 7" Santoku.

I've seen bread knives with "offset" which is nice because you can cut through to the bottom crust without repositioning, your hand doesn't get in the way of getting to the bottom. I guess that's why I reached for the Santoku. But it doesn't have the length I would like, especially when I make a big miche.

If there is a good or exceptional bread knife of any brand, offset or no offset, please let me know.
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post #2 of 18
12/2/07 at 10:22am
I used to use whatever knife came to hand. But recently bought a Lamson Sharp offset breadknife. Now I wonder how I ever got along without it.

10" serrated blade that drops a full inch below the rosewood handle. Cuts like there's no tomorrow. And not too expensive (I got mine from KA). When I first looked at it I tought there'd be too much rocker to the blade, but that turned out to be an unfounded concern.

So far I'm happy with it, and recommend it highly.
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post #3 of 18
12/2/07 at 10:36am
Thread Starter 
Thanks KYH, I saw that one in the KAF catalog. Was wondering if it's any good, sounds like it is. How long have you had it, or how much wear has it gotten?

Do you know what the blade material is by any chance?
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post #4 of 18
12/2/07 at 11:08am
Best knife for me is a Victorinox/Forschner bread knife. About 12" long i's kinda curved and is serrated. The curved part is nice as your knuckles don't met the cutting board very much. For me, serrated knives are best with breads and pastries.
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post #5 of 18
12/2/07 at 11:20am
I've got the Forschner too. It's done everything I've asked it to.

Phil
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post #6 of 18
12/2/07 at 12:05pm
maybe look at get a scalloped(not sure the corect term) slicer. I know mac makes one and so does wushtof. The wusthof one in there super slicer. alot of the chefs i work with use it and they love it. Dont know how it would work on hard bread though.
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post #7 of 18
12/2/07 at 12:24pm
That's what a serrated edge is, and it is designed for breads, pastries as well as fruits and vegetables with hard, taught skins like tomatoes and peppers.

The "peaks" of the serrations act kind of like a saw, scoring a line in a hard crust. With a regular Chef's knife the smooth blade can't get a purchase on a smooth hard skin and will just glide over.
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post #8 of 18
12/2/07 at 1:01pm
yeah i know what a serrated knive is, most the serrated knives i have seen including my own are concave it curves in, the one im talking about is convex, whe scallops acctauly go outward. Thats the best way i can describe it. http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=4400
heres a link to what i am talking about you cant really really see it in the picture
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post #9 of 18
12/2/07 at 2:04pm
Get a Guda, the best of the best.

Pictures and information here.
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post #10 of 18
12/2/07 at 2:12pm
Or, you could pick up some fancy Challah knives. Click on the three links in my post here.

Buzz
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post #11 of 18
12/2/07 at 6:38pm
Adamm, the Victorinox/Forschner is the same style and shape. Granted it doesn't have a forged bolster, but it is cheaper, and it is a very respectable, hard working knife. I've been using this kind of a Victorinox for around 25 years now....
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post #12 of 18
12/2/07 at 8:08pm
ok, i thought they did but i have never seen one from victorinox
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post #13 of 18
12/3/07 at 6:35am
Stir It Up, the Lamson blade says "high carbon stainless," whatever that means.

I've had it only about a month. But it gets used everyday, and has gone through some pretty hard-crusted artisan breads without a hitch. The blade is wide enough that there is no problem maintain evenly-thick slices.

While there's no real way to tell with a serrated edge, it seems just as sharp as the day I got it.

And it's American made, which matters to some people.
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post #14 of 18
12/3/07 at 7:36am
Thread Starter 
Wow, thanks everyone for such excellent replies. Nice that there are so many good options out there.
I'm going to have to try more than one! :bounce:

KYH that's great that those are made in USA, you just talked me into buying their thin paring knife I was considering. I need a better knife for making swans from apples and lemons, they had one that looked good for the purpose.
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post #15 of 18
1/8/08 at 12:04am
:chef:i use to make mine homemade ....using a blade that u would see in a automatic bread slicing machine...these little razor sharp blades made excellent knives for slicing the tops of split top breads before going in the ovens...or my baggets, french bread, rye etc. course back then we used a oven peel to get the loaf right on the hearth with a bit of cornmeal too..probably abit before your time though. had me some of those old blodgett deck ovens...still prefer them today...:bounce: use to stand there many hours peeling the loaves rearranging them for the best hot spots...ohhh those good ole days...come back to me....:lips:
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post #16 of 18
1/8/08 at 6:52am
This means that it has about 1% carbon give or take a bit. That's about the same as for good quality carbon steel. Lots of generic stainless kitchen cutlery is down more in the .5% area give or take a bit, often taking more than giving. There are some good medium carbon stainless steels. Sandvik of Sweden makes some such as 12C27 at .6% but it performs very well for it's mediocre carbon content. One is that it is a very pure steel without undesirable inclusions (silica being one of the worst offenders). Their ore source includes vanadium naturally though so it gets a performance boost from that.

This is worth reading Steel -- A. G. Russell Knives
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post #17 of 18
1/16/08 at 7:05am
The Epicurean Edge: Japanese and European professional chefs knives
This Mac was recommended to me by several chefs and I love it, it's got an interesting wavy edge that doesn't tear the bread, cuts really soft loaves or hard crusts and doubles as a slicer for meats.
Jannie
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post #18 of 18
3/1/08 at 2:23am
For a cheap knife it's hard to beat the Kershaw Pure Komachi bread knife. Very sharp, and only $20. For $60 it's hard to beat the MAC bread knife. Above that a Shun will amaze you.
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