Types of Bread Knives and Criteria for Choosing the Best One

Last Updated: March 1, 2022

A bread knife is considered one of the essential pieces in every kitchen. The bread knife is designed specifically to help cut through a wide variety of bread types ranging from soft, crusty French baguettes to light and fluffy sandwich bread. Even if you regularly buy your bread sliced, you can still benefit from having a bread knife in your kitchen set.

It will prove its worth when you cut fresh savory bread for dinner or homemade sandwiches, for example. And it’ll do a better job than a big sharp knife or a serrated knife chopped bread. The special serrated blade keeps the bread from sticking to it as you’re cutting and makes things easier.

Bread knives have existed for centuries, but the first specialized models emerged in the late 19th century in Germany. The first knives were different in size, shape and design from the more advanced products. Their handle was solid, usually made of wood, and at times even ivory. Designer was popular, and so were picture frame knives. These knives had graceful, fairly simple lines.

Sometimes they recalled Japanese style elements. They were invented for use by servers in restaurants, who were wielding more bread every day and therefore needed a particularly sharp knife to make it easier to cut. Since then, many types of knives have been invented, but there are still some things every bread knife should do well, such as cutting into crusty bread without squishing it or breaking bread apart.

There are many bread knives in the market. Even though it may not be obvious, having the right knife is a must for bread lovers. Fortunately, a good bread knife isn’t that hard to find. However, it can require some effort to research and compare different bread knives before making a purchase decision.

What does a kitchen bread knife look like today, what should a perfect blade and a comfortable handle be like? What is the best choice for the home? You will learn how to choose a knife, what should be the blade of a perfect knife and how to properly maintain it.

Types of Bread Knives

Bread knives are used to slice bread, but there are different types which function in specific ways. Cooks will want to know the types of bread knives available before they buy so they can pick out the right one for their needs.

Those who are looking to buy kitchen supplies and knives should read on to find out more about the different types of bread knives. There are so many different types of bread knives out there, it makes buying one kind of confusing.

The bread knife can be described as an item with a long, wide blade specially design for slicing bread. In contrast to some other kitchen knives, it has little sharp edges that help you with cutting even the toughest crust and softest crumbs. There are professional knives for slicing bread on sale, such specialized models are used in restaurants, stores, and the second type is knives for everyday home use.

To cut bread into halves and quarters, bakery knives with a long blade and bun knives with a wide but relatively short cutting part were used in stores. The blade was either straight or wavy.

Bread knife with classic sharpening was suitable for round loaves of any height, but fresh bread could not be cut into slices with it anyway, because the crumb crumpled. Nowadays it is almost impossible to find such items on sale, but they can still be found in museum expositions and in photographs.

Home and professional kitchens use knives with special sharpening — serrated knives. Serrated knives are not just another kitchen utensil, but an essential tool, contributing to the overall effect of food on the table. Like any other practical kitchen equipment, cutlery has its own secrets.

The use of special techniques help to achieve smooth cutting, which causes minimal loss of nutrients and increases the service life of these products by several times. Any chef knows that this type of knife is especially essential for slicing breads and desserts like pies or cakes.

Slicing bread with the help of a serrated Bread knife is an interesting task. It’s really cool, but very easy to be slip and cut yourself. However, if handled correctly, you can turn this everyday action into an exciting adventure.

Requirements for a Bread Knife

When spending good money on something, knowing what it is you’re looking for is the best way to avoid disappointment. Bread knives are a lot more like knives than other kitchen knives. They have to have a large blade surface and adequate weight to get through what most people assume is a hard, strong, and rather unyielding substance.

They also have to do this while not being able to exert too much pressure on the loaf as this may cause it to fall apart or squash flat. Also, they need to have enough of an edge to cut smoothly into bread without squashing or tearing it.

You need to pay attention not only to the size of the bread and loaves you buy most often, but also to their varieties. So how can you tell if a piece of bread knife will last and how can you tell what quality it is?

Features of Blade Type and Sharpening

Bread knives for home use are small tools used to make it easier to work in the kitchen and cook bread in the oven. The purpose of a bread knife is to cut bread. The right bread knife helps you cut thick bread and separate a large amount of bread from the loaf at one time, rather than one slice at a time.

Knife blades can vary in length as well as in width, metal hardness, angle of sharpening, and other manufacturing characteristics. There are many different types of knife blades, each designed to do a specific job. The longer the knife blade, the more flexible it will be when cutting thick foods. The width of the blade should be wide enough to cut through food without bending or loosening along the way.

A bread knife is the perfect tool for cutting a loaf of crust just out of the oven. But not every knife is perfect for this task. To get nice, not crumpled slices, a bread knife should have a long blade. The width of the blade is equal along its entire length or tapers slightly toward the tip.

The length is conditioned by the slicing motion. If you plan to slice large loaves and buns, look for models at least 23 cm long. For loaves and standard loaves, the blade should be at least 19 cm. A nice feature is the rounded corners. Good knives are made of stainless steel to prevent rusting or mold growth in a humid environment such as a kitchen.

Bread knives are specialized cutlery used when preparing bread for serving or eating. Bread knives differ from other knives in the fact that they do not have a pointed tip — this area is not involved in the work. In special models of knives, the tip may have a slightly rounded outer side.

Throughout the entire length of the blade is the main active part of the tool for cutting bread. The exception is serrated bread knives, which have saw-like serrations on the blade, giving them a saw-like cutting ability. This makes them handy and durable. Everyone knows that the best knife for bread is a knife with a wavy edge. The perfect tool for slicing soft bread is the wavy-edged bread knife.

It has a triangular, mountain-shaped edge so that the inside of the bread can be cut without crumbs and cut through without chipping or cracking. This means you don’t have to worry about getting irregularly shaped slices when slicing!

When it comes to cutting ability, the serrated knife is second to none. This is because it is able to cut without stopping for a long time. Usually, a straight-edged blade loses its sharpness after a few cuts. With a serrated blade, you can make cuts quickly and many times in a row.

Because of their design features, serrated blades stay sharp much longer than smooth blades. The secret to how these blades stay so sharp is that they have many bevels and micro serrations along the blade that create points of contact when they contact any surface. These contact points are very small — sometimes only a micron wide — but it is these points that cause the product to cut when using a serrated blade.

One of the most important characteristics of a knife is its blade. The disadvantage of a serrated blade is the difficulty in sharpening it. It is unlikely that a serrated «saw» can be sharpened by hand, you will need the help of a specialist with specialized equipment for this purpose. Also an important disadvantage is the high price due to the labor intensity of work on the machines for the application of notches.

Most bread knives have a tapered shape from the spine of the blade to the point and a bevel on one side. This is necessary because otherwise the bread will tear rather than cut evenly, especially when it hardens as it cools. There are better quality bread knives that have an additional bevel on the other side and therefore two sharpening angles.

This is usually done for right-handers: sharpening one way will give you a left-handed knife that leaves a crisp edge, optimal for slicing soft bread; sharpening the other way will give you a right-handed knife that cuts harder crusts more easily.

What Material Should the Blade Be Made Of

It is necessary to ensure that the blade of the bread knife is strong to the touch and hard enough, but at the same time thin. For this purpose, the most popular material for manufacturing is high-quality stainless steel. Stainless steel is resistant to moisture, non-corrosive, smooth and well sharpened.

In addition, stainless steel is easy to clean, stain-resistant and does not absorb odors. With a good bread knife from the kitchen at home will come to any aid: they are easily cut fruit, vegetables and any other products. Folded and straight blades are available bread knives – the first can be used when cutting a loaf of bread, the second is convenient for slicing cooked fruits or vegetables.

For centuries, chefs have had difficulty slicing bread with cheap blades. When the knife is too thin, it’s like trying to cut bread with a plastic bag. And when it’s too thick, it’s like trying to kill bread with a bat. There is a great variety of bread knives with a range in prices and producers ranging from Chinese cheapies to British heirlooms. One of the easiest ways to improve your bread consumption is by upgrading to the best bread knife you can afford.

A good, sharp bread knife makes cutting soft, crumbly breads a delight. Inexpensive bread knives use thin, single-ply steel, which leads to difficulty in slicing bread with soft crumbles. More expensive products use Damascus steel as a material with a long service life, which is not affected by toasty crusts and can easily handle the crumb of porous bread.

Although the price difference is not large, it is quite important to choose the one that suits your need. The best knife for bread is like the best knife for cutting sushi or fish. The knife used for cutting bread has to be really sharp as well as tolerate warm bread without becoming dull.

When talking about working with bread, it is impossible not to mention knives. The function of the knife in the kitchen is obvious: bread is sliced, cakes are cut into pieces, logs and slices are cut, doughs are kneaded. The condition of the knife can cause injuries, so you need to be careful and know how to choose and use a knife.

When talking about hardness, the majority of knife lovers immediately think about how hard the material is. In fact, this is only a small part of the whole story. The main thing is that the material must be hardened evenly to achieve maximum wear resistance. At the same time, it is not necessary to chase hardness, because the higher values lead to increased fragility of the knife. Steel with a hardness of 25-50 HRC is good enough to work with bread.

When selecting a baker’s knife, pay attention to the bolster, the point where the blade meets the handle. The bolster is one of the most important aspects of a good baking knife. It must be sturdy because it is responsible for balancing the weight of the handle and blade, so pay attention to this area because if there is a weak spot, it can put a lot of stress on your hands.

It has to be strong because it has a lot of responsibility for balancing the weight of the handle and blade, pay attention to this area because if there is a weak spot here, it can lead to a lot of stress on your hands. If you don’t believe me, hold the knife close to its bolster for a few minutes and feel how uncomfortable it is.

To make the knife hygienic, this component in some products is made by adding antibacterial silver to the alloy. This prevents bacteria from getting on the handle and blade, which can negatively affect the quality of your baking. This prevents the possibility of bacteria entering from the surface of the handle to the blade.

Most types of bread have what is called a «crumb» texture, which is comprised of tiny holes and bumps. This texture is created when dough is mixed with yeast. Dough is composed mostly of flour and water, but as the yeast ferments, it creates gas bubbles that create these holes. The reason for creating this sticky textural feel is to hold the bread together.

A huge part of having a memorable meal is having fresh bread. Cutting bread is not easy even with a stainless steel blade. Even cutting bread is not as simple as it seems. Cutting low-density food like bread or cake needs a special technique that differs from cutting high-density items such as cheese. One needs to apply greater pressure than usual and use a serrated bread knife with a non-stick surface.

The blade prevents the loaf from sticking to the knife, thereby making your work quicker and easier. Having a serrated bread knife is very handy in cutting bread for your sandwiches. Yes, it is possible to use a regular knife for this but why not try something else? Non-stick serrated bread knives are great additions to your kitchen utensils.

Some manufacturers offer knives made of various polymers (plastic). High-quality plastic will not leave any scratches on the plates, it won’t change its shape over time, and plastic products don’t rust. Plastic blades are easy to clean — they can be washed in a dishwasher (if the manufacturer permits this operation) and as a rule, don’t absorb flavors or odors from previously cut food.

Plastic knives are not very expensive, but they are also not very strong. The knives of this material have no «bite» — cuts into the product aren’t smooth and clean. In general, knives with Teflon or polymer coating are more often on sale in all stores. At the same time in the more expensive price range — with titanium.

Can I Use a Ceramic Knife to Slice Bread?

Ceramic knives are one of the most popularly marketed kitchen knife lines. Their appeal comes to us in two forms, the first being their amazing ability to keep a razor sharp edge even after extreme punishment and second, the claim that they do not need sharpening.

Alas, ceramic blades also blunt and every time you drag your blade across a hard surface – it diminishes the edge. Check the Amazon reviews on ceramic kitchen knives and you’ll see which is the most common complaint I have with ceramic in general. It’s very frustrating to get a new knife then realise that it can’t be sharpened.

Good quality knives can last for many years if you take good care of them. They are not expensive and it’s worth investing in a few nice ones since they will become your faithful friends in the kitchen. More than 30 years have passed since the era of traditional knives has come to an end.

The modern generation of kitchen knives is made of high-tech materials and possesses innovative cutting design. Ceramic knives – this is an example of the family of high-tech and extremely sharp devices. They do not cut well on banana peels, but perfectly cope with cutting frozen chicken breasts into thin slices. Such knives are resistant to gross mechanical damage. And they are not recommended for cutting on glass and stone surfaces.

That’s why one of the main mistakes a cook can do is to put it on a glass or stone surface. It is better to choose a wooden or silicone cutting board. Having the right cutting board is essential to your success. All in all, ceramic knives – the best weapon against bacterial contamination in the kitchen. The attractive design makes them ideal as a gift too. Read more about the cutting board in our other article.

Ceramic knives are easy to find in stores, but they are not gaining in demand among experienced consumers, as it is believed that ceramic knives for bread slicing are too weak and fragile. The fact is they cannot slice bread without breaking. The thick bread knife blade is very durable and can be used for a long time, but it makes the cut much deeper than bread slicer.

For those who like to eat bread with crust or very fragrant bread is not recommended, as the features mentioned above can damage them. A ceramic bread knife might look great but it will not stay sharp enough to slice your favorite loaves, is not as strong as expected and it is not worth the money you pay for. Most chefs agree that the best knife for bread is a thin blade steel knife.

The Best Material for the Handle and Mounting Methods

Most people start using a bread knife for its intended purpose. Then midway through the process they decide to go all fancy with it — they try some buttering, a bit of jamming and use it for non-bread related culinary applications. The first tip cannot be stressed enough.

Never use a bread knife for anything other than slicing cleanly through bread. Your beloved kitchen utensil is way too exposed for this treatment and will usually lead to an undesirable outcome. A knife must be used for the right purpose in order for its handle to remain dry and clean.

Using a kitchen knife for other purposes will only cause problems. Even if you keep the blade clean, the handle is often wet from washing hands or dishes in the sink. All it takes is one careless moment to transfer harmful microorganisms present on kitchenware to your food, making it unsafe for consumption. What can you do to avoid this unpleasant situation?

If possible, it would be nice to thoroughly wash your hands every single time you need to cut a piece of bread. But it’s not possible, so use a wet rag or paper towel to clean the bread knife handle after cutting raw meat or fish. Then wash hands before continuing to cut the bread. This simple habit will prevent unpleasant “surprises” from happening.

Great knife handles is an important factor that should not be undermined in any way. You may even search for the best knife handles but there are never guarantees as some may be better than others. The knife handle material will not only determine how long the blade will last but also its overall look, feel, and durability too. Knife handles act as a comfortable grip for the knife and brings immense safety to the users. Knife handles can be made of wood, plastic, Micarta, silicone, metal or other materials.

From a practical point of view, products with metal, plastic and silicone handles are more convenient. They are easy to clean and disinfect. You may be surprised to learn that the best knife handle material is wood. This should come as no surprise to survival and bushcraft knife enthusiasts — they have known this for years. While there are some good synthetic options, nothing beats a wooden knife handle for grip and durability.

If you are looking for the best kind of material that can be used in making knife handles, then you should take a good look at micarta. This is a type of material that is very durable and strong, and even though it will be slightly more expensive than other types of knife handle materials, it’s surely worth your investment.

The easiest way to hold a knife blade in place is by using epoxy glue. This method is applied when making extremely light-weight knives. The handle and blade are two separate pieces, and the knife requires additional material for the handles. Some companies, as a result, use screws to attach handles.

This method is more convenient, and screws make it easier to replace the handle if the one provided breaks. The one downside to riveting knives is that it makes the blade heavier. This is especially noticeable with a long-bladed chef’s knife or a wide cleaver. If weight is an issue, there are better ways to attach metal to plastic.

The handles of the bread knife are shaped as follows :

Tapered handles — expand or taper toward the blade. Handles that taper toward the blade are more comfortable for you.
Straight — comfortable but slips out of your hands.
Anatomic handles — take into account the curves of your palm and the size of your hand. This is the latest development of the world’s bread knife manufacturers.
Concave grips are comfortable and shorten the range of motion while cutting.

A knife is no less than an aide in any kitchen. In fact, it is probably the most versatile device among all. However, even after having so many uses, we are inadvertently ignorant about one of the most crucial things – selecting the right one.

There is nothing more frustrating than buying something of poor quality or not matching what you were promised. Therefore, when choosing a knife, it is better to check separately the blade and handle or body parts to see if they are comfortable to use.

Cutting bread has never been easier. It’s a universal truth. The bread knife was invented to help us slice bread perfectly. There are lots of other knives you could use to cut bread depending on the size and thickness of your loaf. But the bread knife was specifically designed for the task of cutting through sliced and unsliced loaves.