Bread slicing

[Jethro_uk]

Since the lockdown has reduced services at supermarkets, they have their nice freshly baked bread available. But won't slice it, which is a PITA.

Amazon have a variety of plastic guides for slicing bread at less than a tenner, but reviews suggest they aren't that sturdy.

Bearing in mind the professional slicer is a series of cutting wires that actually saw through the loaf in one pass, is there anything the good posters here would recommend ?

Since the bread freezes beautifully, I did try slicing it from frozen. You can guess how well that went from the fact I am posting this :)

I guess the knife plays a part. I'm using a standard bread knife from a Richardson set ... I notice you can play over £20 for one from Amazon ...

[NY]

Are you typing one-handed while the fingers on the other hand that you cut off are re-growing? :-)

[Jethro_uk]

Luckily not.

When I was little and started cutting bread my Mum used to tell me about my aunt who almost managed to remove a finger mishandling a knife ...

[Tim+]

I?ve never really found it a problem but maybe it?s just down to having the right knife? We have a cheap Kitchen Devil bread knife with a wavy edge on one side and a fine toothed edge on the other. The consistency of the crust and bread determines which side we use.

Kitchen Devils 1000763 Kitchen Knife, Metal

(Other stockists are available).

Tim

[Andrew]

Sainsburys have bread slicing machines for the customers to use.

[williamwright]

Don't use a bread knife. They don't work. Buy a good quality carving knife, a big one. Learn how to get it razor sharp. Then practice. Eventually you'll cut perfect slices. A sharp carving knife cuts right through gains and fibre; a bread knife tears them.

Bill

[nothanks]

I also have a kitchen devil - a great thing BUT my new'ish SWMBO was in the habit of putting one hand on the back of large knives - she did it once with the kitchen devil, survived with minor injuries, and has been worried about it ever since. I think the secret to slicing fresh bread is not to try when it's straight out of the breadmaker (too floppy), to consider slicing it at

90 degrees to convention (if you have a tall loaf), and not to press hard. Having said that, the rest of my family seem to be incapable of slicing bread, so maybe it's a learned skill.

[GB]

It's better to cut the loaf up before freezing it. If you don't, at least get yourself a cut-proof glove.

[Andy Burns]

Never seen those, ours just has a new sign saying "sorry, no slicing"

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

I had one from betterware that was as good or bad as the current plastic ones. RNIB used to do a more sturdy one. Thy may do still, worth a look at their online shop. Brian

[PeterC]

I've wondered about using a hacksaw for cutting frozen bread. It'd have to be 18 tpi+ at a guess and all the paint removed first. I sometimes get a Jamaican-style loaf and even pre-sliced it can be difficult to seperate the slices at room temperature - sliced and frozen...!

[GB]

Who cares?

[Jethro_uk]

*Some* Sainsburys. But currently AFAIK they are all out of action.

[Jethro_uk]

This isn't homemade bread, but a bought loaf ...

[Jethro_uk]

Well, yes, but then we are back to the original problem ...

[Jethro_uk]

I did seriously consider a hacksaw. But quite aside from how it looks, the frame of the saw isn't quite big enough to fit the loaf, no moatter what way you turn it. So you're going to end up cutting into the middle ...

[Jethro_uk]

I'll have a peek, thanks !

[Max Demian]

That's like the knife Fred West said he used to cut up the bodies. The wavy edge to remove the flesh and the saw edge to cut the bones. Not sure what he used the pronged end for: perhaps for hoicking out the eyeballs. <g>

[T i m]

I believe it is.

I can pretty well cut anything (wood, bread, cake, fruit) into whatever thickness slices you want and they all generally come out parallel and even.

If the Mrs tries to cut a loaf (and she's older than me and cutting bread longer than me) it's a nightmare! (TO the point where she generally calls me to do it).

Like many jobs it's a function of the right tools (+1 for Kitchen Devils), the right prep and the right 'technique'.

Having the 'eye' to steer a blade / saw and knowing when / how to make any corrections helps.

I've cut up 4 of my home made loaves recently and would properly need a vernier caliper to measure the thickness differences between each slice. Mind you, it was fairly 'dense' so that made it easier. ;-)

The thing you have to watch out for is if you have a knife where the cutting edge is biased to one side. If you start off with the blade parallel to the intended cut it's likely to go off at an angle to start with.

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

<snip>

+1

I think that's what they call just a 'Kitchen knife'. Their 'Bread knife' only has a blade on one edge.

I think Mum has one the same as yours.

We have one of these:

Possibly bought from a hardware on a whim (possibly on a camping holiday) and is still used regularly, although tbf, mainly for the odd cake and bagels (we generally buy cut loaves).

We have two Kitchen Devils 'Multipurpose knives (602002)' that are used daily for everything (that needs a sharp blade).

Whilst slicing though something very hard (a turnip or summat) the blade broke out of the handle so, knowing it was very old we went and bought a new one. On the packaging we noticed the mention of a 10 year guarantee so we sent the broken one off, with no real idea how old it was.

We got a new knife back a few days later but with a note that said that version of knife was probably closer to 20 years old! <blush>

Cheers, T i m