Why Every Kitchen Needs One Bread Knife . More than one purpose
A bread knife is a specialty knife designed to cut through the bread crust without compressing its soft interior in the process. The key design point is the frequency and width of the serrations. In some cases there is a straight blade section on either end of the bread knife with a longer serrated section in the middle. Serrated bread knives are often ground on only one side – called a single-bevel blade. Low-frequency serrations – lower number and wider spacing of teeth – help the blades glide through bread quickly and cleanly. What is a bread knife good at cutting ? Basically anything with a hard skin or crust.
We understand the bread knife from several aspects
A bread knife is shaped similar to the Santoku knife with 2 differences – it is serrated teeth and is much longer. The idea behind the length of the blade is it allows the cook to cut large surfaces in long, smooth strokes – much like a saw in carpentry. The serrated teeth help the knife grip the bread’s surface, keeping it straight and steady without having to apply downward pressure that might compress the loaf.
The Best Bread Knife: Pointed vs. Scalloped Edges
Ah the bread knife – that one with the long blade that everyone thinks is reserved for, you know, bread. This type of kitchen knife usually comes with saw-like points or notches along the cutting edge of the blade. This design enables the knife to slice, or really saw through, foods with tough exteriors and delicate interiors, like crusty loaves of bread, of course.
Using a bread knife usually involves exerting more force while slicing, which divides the pressure between the serrations on the blade. The number, shape and overall sharpness of the serrations also differ from bread knife to bread knife, offering two different cutting edges: pointed vs. scalloped.
Bread knives come in length varying from 6″ to 14″ – the right size depends on what you will be cutting most frequently. For the average home cook an 8″ (20 cm) blade is the right length as it is long enough to cut though most large breads yet short enough to control easily. If the blade is too long it may flex while cutting – making cutting straight difficult for home cooks.
Can Serrated Bread Knives be Sharpened?
Nothing good lasts forever, and like all knives, serrated edges will also wear down and dull over time. Not to fret though, it is in fact possible to restore your serrated bread knife back to working condition.
However, sharpening a serrated bread knife is trickier than sharpening a straight-edged chef’s knife. The serrated edges are usually only sharpened on one side and have to be sharpened at the specific angle specified by the brand, making it a lot more difficult for a home cooking enthusiast to navigate.
Destroying your new knife because you don’t have the necessary skills to properly sharpen it is not very cost effective – and throwing away knives is both scary and wasteful. Your best bet for maintaining the cutting edge of your bread knife is to first invest in a quality bread knife and leave the sharpening process to the professionals.
What is a Bread Knife Used For?
This might be obvious, but you can use a bread knife to slice all kinds of breads, from baguettes and brioche to bagels and biscuits. It’s also the perfect tool for shaping and leveling cakes for decorating, along with cutting delicate slices to serve.
Tougher foods are no match for a bread knife either. Melons and squash, which can trap straight-edged knives and pose a cutting hazard to cooks, are easily sliced with a long bread knife. Prepping other fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes or pineapple, is also a good occasion to break out your bread knife. In a pinch, it can even be used to slice meatloaf and carve roasts!
While you may not use a bread knife as often as the other knives in your set, it’s still a valuable tool to add to your collection. There are countless recipes, snacks and sandwich platters that call for the use of many different types of bread. And although a chef’s knife may work well enough, it falls noticeably short when slicing through crusty loaves and other foods that require a serrated knife.
What I want to tell you is: the bread knife is more than just cutting bread.
Let me tell you other uses of it
If you’re a home cook with a sweet tooth, you’ll definitely want to keep a bread knife on hand. Just as with savory baked goods, there are many reasons to break out the bread knife for sweets, from cakes to pastries. Not only does it easily slice through the delicate sponge of a cake, its blade is also longer than most other kitchen knives, meaning you can slice through the entire layer in just one pass. If you do a lot of cake work, look for a bread knife with a more rounded handle so it’s comfortable to hold horizontally when leveling cakes.
You can also use a bread knife to prepare some of the accompanying ingredients for your sweet treats. It’s especially well-suited for breaking up blocks of baking chocolate, which is brittle and may snap under the pressure of a straight-edged knife. Use a bread knife to easily cut the chocolate into small, manageable pieces suitable for melting or mixing into doughs and batters.
For Fruits and Vegetables
A serrated knife is good at one thing – cutting without downward pressure. That one trait makes the bread knife useful for both squishy, delicate foods and very firm, tough foods. Use it to cut perfect slices from soft fruits and vegetables like tomatoes or citrus without covering your cutting board in juices. It’s also perfect for cutting up a pineapple.
Shun Knife Shun Premier Grey 9″ Bread Knife
VG-MAX steel core, Damascus clad with 34 micro-layers on each side of SUS410/SUS431 stainless steel; full tang
Hammered Tsuchime finish helps release the food from the blade easily when slicing
60-61 Rockwell Hardness; hand-sharpened Japanese double-bevel blade angle 16° on each side
Contoured grey PakkaWood handle accommodates right and left-handed users
Handcrafted in Seki, Japan with a limited lifetime warranty; hand wash with gentle dish soap
The Shun Premier Grey Bread Knife will be one of the most-used knives in your kitchen, if you bake or buy whole loaves of bread. Whether you love wonderfully crusty or delicately tender bread, the Shun Premier Bread Knife will be your loaf’s new best friend, no matter what texture of bread. The key is Shun’s razor-sharp, wide, “low frequency” serrations. Unlike a plain-edged knife, the serrations let you gently saw through the bread without crushing and with much less crumbing. Unlike saw-tooth serrations that are spaced closer together, the Shun Premier Bread Knife’s wide serrations will gently glide through the bread without tearing. This keeps the bread’s texture intact and enhances eating pleasure. Cakes and pastries also benefit from the Shun Premier Bread Knife’s smooth cutting capabilities.
The Shun Premier Grey line calls to mind as the hand-forged knives of ancient Japan. While each knife still takes at least 100 handcrafted steps to complete, the materials Shun uses are among the most advanced in the industry. Each blade has a cutting core of Shun’s proprietary VG-MAX “super steel” to take and hold a precision edge. The layered Damascus cladding supports the core and provides additional stain resistance. Near the edge of the blade where the steels meet, an undulating line is formed, similar to samurai swords using a traditional clay-baking technique. The hammered tsuchime finish acts like a series of hollow-ground cavities to reduce drag. The grey PakkaWood handles nestle comfortably in the hand, while the embossed end cap adds balance and beauty. Handcrafted in Seki, Japan with a limited lifetime warranty.
We do professional knife set retail and wholesale business. We hope to be your stable global supporter and partner.
We are an enterprise integrating factory and trade, specializing in the design, manufacture and sales of high-quality knife sets.
We always make every effort to ensure the quality of each set of knives.
● The complete knife set contains all kitchen knives.
● Delivery from the local warehouse, within 3 days.
● Manufactured in our own factory, cost-effective.
● Transparent acrylic knife holder, like a work of art
● Excellent materials, safe and durable.
● We listen to customer needs and feedback.