I can't slice my homemade bread in even slices...AND ITS DRIVING ME NUTS

[5LittleMonkeys]

Can someone please explain to me how to slice my homemade bread WITHOUT crushing the loaf, WITHOUT having a slice paper thin on top and an inch thick on the bottom, and WITHOUT causing me to give up and just tear it into chunks, slap some butter on it and tell the kids to just eat their ham and cheese separate.

 

I know I can buy a bread guide but I have two loaves sitting on my counter mocking me because I am going to need to cut them up in the morning.:glare:

 

(I really don't want to spend the money on the guide either)

[OrganicAnn]

Are you using a serrated knife? That helps. We don't do it but I've heard that an electric knife works well.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

Well, how's your knife? Do you have a REALLY sharp, super-long bread knife?

 

My bread maker came with a bread knife that's pretty good. Did you get one with yours? If not, you need a long, serrated, straight-blade knife made especially to cut bread. You need the serrations to saw through the bread, so you don't have to squish it.

 

My sharpest bread knife was made by Cutco. It's so sharp, it will cut you if you look at it wrong. It'll cut through anything! You can see it here (I have the long one). Of course, you don't have to have a Cutco knife, but you do need a good bread knife.

[Carol in Cal.]

...recommends a long, serrated ham slicer. We have a similar knife, and it has worked pretty well for me. Having said that, I tend to use homemade bread in open faced sandwiches, so I cut it thicker than typical 'store' bread.

 

It's helpful to use light, fast strokes back and forth and not push down too hard.

[LibraryLover]

Sharp serrated knife.

 

ETA- Crud. I need to read past the header. You already got advice. lol Grrrr...

[Giraffe]

I use a serrated knife and make lots of light sawing cuts until it gets going good. It also helps if your loaves aren't light and airy but a little heavier or denser. I'm not saying hockey puck dense, just not more air than bread. If you can make your crusts crunchy it helps the knife find something to bite into and get going.

 

HTH!

[asta]

Freeze it for a hour or so if you don't have a serrated knife on hand. But you really do need a serrated knife.

 

 

a

[5LittleMonkeys]

Well, I have a bread knife but it may not be sharp enough. I have a sharpener for my cooking knives but I've never tried to sharpen this one. Do you know if you can sharpen a serrated knife with a regular knife sharpener?

[lvbnhome]

We've found that using an electric knife allows us to be consistent with the size of the slice, and causes less damage to the loaf...It's too much work to make bread, not to use an electric knife:)

[joannqn]

I use an electric knife. My bread knife is super dull right now. They can be sharpened but not the same way as you'd sharpen a regular knife. There's a knife store in our mall that sharpens serrated knives for $1 an inch. Maybe you have one near you.

 

I'm thinking I'd rather just buy a new bread knife. I hate the knives I have (Chicago) because they dull so quickly. Maybe I should put knives on my wish list and start getting good ones one at a time.

[RoughCollie]

We've found that using an electric knife allows us to be consistent with the size of the slice, and causes less damage to the loaf...It's too much work to make bread, not to use an electric knife:)

 

I actually made some bread once that would not slice with an electric knife. I had to make slits in the crust with a plain old knife first. It might have been the artisan bread, but I'm not sure about that. The bread looked good, tasted good, and would not cooperate with me.

 

Despite knives, I have never been able to slice bread evenly from top to bottom, or to make the slices all the same thickness. I must see in a crooked way or something.

[asta]

I actually made some bread once that would not slice with an electric knife. I had to make slits in the crust with a plain old knife first. It might have been the artisan bread, but I'm not sure about that. The bread looked good, tasted good, and would not cooperate with me.

 

Despite knives, I have never been able to slice bread evenly from top to bottom, or to make the slices all the same thickness. I must see in a crooked way or something.

 

Me either.

 

Have you ever seen one of these?

 

 

a

[RoughCollie]

Me either. Have you ever seen one of these? a

 

No, I haven't. They remind me of hacksaws. I wonder if they correct the crooked vision problem.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Despite knives, I have never been able to slice bread evenly from top to bottom, or to make the slices all the same thickness. I must see in a crooked way or something.

 

I'm glad I'm not alone.

 

Have you ever seen one of these?

 

AACCKK!:glare: Why did you have to show us that...now I want one. You know I get into more trouble clicking on links people post on this forum! :lol:

[Guest shanewarne]

Thanks so much for the post, It is such interesting information. Thanks for sharing...

[Laura Corin]

Serrated knife and turn the bread. I grew up without sliced bread. You start the cut (lots of sawing, very little pressure) on the top, then after you have gone down an inch or so you turn the bread and go down an inch or so on that side, then the other side, then the final side. Once you get to the final side you can just carry on through and it should be pretty much straight.

 

I can actually cut slices without doing all that, but I remember that my mother taught me that method.

 

Laura

[lmrich]

Electric Knife is the best!

[kewb]

I turn the bread upside down and slice from the bottom to the top. This seems to make the most even slices for us. Oh, and a sharp knife.

[ConnieB]

If you start at the corner and have a sharp serrated knife then you avoid the "push hard to slice the entire top at once" crushing ritual. Turning it on it's side sometimes help.

 

Also, while eating the bread still warm is desireable.....it will squish less if you wait for it to cool down.

 

With a bread guide you can easily angle the knife so that you start cutting at an edge/corner (here's one similiar to what I use).

[FriedClams]

We've found that using an electric knife allows us to be consistent with the size of the slice, and causes less damage to the loaf...It's too much work to make bread, not to use an electric knife:)

 

:iagree:

[Susu]

I had one of those "better bread" knives with the guide on it, but to me it was worthless. What made the difference for me was a REALLY sharp, serrated, long, bread knife. I have the one from Pampered Chef that is green and it is great!

 

You need a knife sharp enough that you don't need to use pressure. That is the key.

[My3Boys]

I use an electric knife and a bread guide. I have perfect slices every time. The one exception is when the bread isn't cooked enough and is a little doughy in the center or if I don't let it cool enough.

 

I know you said you didn't want to spend the money on a bread guide, but, honestly, they aren't expensive and if you make a lot of homemade bread it is well worth it. Mine is a wooden one I bought at a home store and it was $10.

 

My electric knife came with a detachable guide but it doesn't work as well as the bread guide, which holds the whole loaf in place as you cut. I just apply a little pressure on the end of the loaf to steady it.

[erica471]

This is an awesome thread. I have always wondered the same thing. Now, I'm off to try these things.:)

[bookfiend]

I turn the bread upside down and slice from the bottom to the top. This seems to make the most even slices for us. Oh, and a sharp knife.

 

Yep! Don't start from the top on the hard crust; start from the side or the bottom. If you change your mind and decide to spend money, I can recommend the fiddle bow knife.

 

http://www.mountainwoods.com/category.cfm/Category=4.htm

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Can someone please explain to me how to slice my homemade bread WITHOUT crushing the loaf, WITHOUT having a slice paper thin on top and an inch thick on the bottom, and WITHOUT causing me to give up and just tear it into chunks, slap some butter on it and tell the kids to just eat their ham and cheese separate.

 

I know I can buy a bread guide but I have two loaves sitting on my counter mocking me because I am going to need to cut them up in the morning.:glare:

 

(I really don't want to spend the money on the guide either)

 

My DS's response to my LOL at this thread?

 

"Wow, Mom, do you know her? That's how you slice it, too."

[Crissy]

I hate the knives I have (Chicago) because they dull so quickly.

 

 

It's not just me? I loved my Chicago knives when my sister first gave them to me, but it seems like they dull in no time at all.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I use an electric knife and a bread guide.

 

Cheater!

 

Where's the fun in that?;)

[joannqn]

It's not just me? I loved my Chicago knives when my sister first gave them to me, but it seems like they dull in no time at all.

 

 

No, it's not just you. My dad sharpened my knives really well a few months ago. I have to use the steel every time I try to cut something because they are already dull.

[BikeBookBread]

I have this 15 year old serrated Henckels bread knife that I adore. The original price made me gulp but I sure have gotten my money's worth.

 

I've tried cutting with others' bread knives with little success. Honestly, it took me about a year to get it down to the point that I feel my slices look good! Turning bread on its side is really helpful (took me a while to figure THAT one out). Making long slower but deliberate swipes is helpful. I tried the electric knife and I just massacred the bread :lol:

[chickenpatty]

We've discussed this here before, I think. My solution is to shape the bread into long hoagie rolls & slice it horizontally. It works so much better that way. I like my bread soft, so slicing it the regular way is not conducive to sandwiches.

 

HTH! :)

[5LittleMonkeys]

Okay, I came down this morning and walked right past my loaves of bread (they were smirking) and came to the computer to check for replies.

 

I tried this one

Serrated knife and turn the bread. I grew up without sliced bread. You start the cut (lots of sawing, very little pressure) on the top, then after you have gone down an inch or so you turn the bread and go down an inch or so on that side, then the other side, then the final side. Once you get to the final side you can just carry on through and it should be pretty much straight.

along with starting at the corner and making long, light pressure cuts.

 

Even though my knife is apparantly duller than snot I actually got pretty good even slices. Now who is smirking! My bread doesn't look so smug all sliced up nice and neat with it's soft, fluffy insides exposed!:lol:

 

Thank you sooo much for your responses. I'm off to research bread knifes.

[Laura Corin]

My bread doesn't look so smug all sliced up nice and neat with it's soft, fluffy insides exposed!:lol:

 

Thank you sooo much for your responses. I'm off to research bread knifes.

 

Laura

[SapphireStitch]

We use an electric knife on our bread, but I still couldn't get the slices even until DH told me this trick: don't *try* to keep the bread slice even, instead focus on keeping the knife perpendicular to the cutting board.

 

Somehow when I was focusing on the bread slice I was compensating by tilting the knife as I sliced. But if I set the knife on the top of the bread at the thickness I want the slice to be, and then focus on keeping the knife perpendicular...somehow it works.

 

This may be something particular to the way my brain functions...but I thought I'd throw it out there in case it helps someone else.

[Alenee]

I didn't read through the whole thread so if this is a repeat, my apologies.

 

A pp said you need to have a denser bread. The way we do this using our regular recipes is this: After the first rising, separate your dough and roll out each dough ball with a rolling pin. When you do this you are pushing out any extra air bubbles. Then roll up the dough into a loaf and place in baking pan for it's second rising. It will look like a cinnamon roll loaf but bakes up very well. You get a nice dense bread perfect for sandwiches. For slicing, wait until the bread has completely cooled before slicing with a good serrated knife.

[Lady Q]

My sharpest bread knife was made by Cutco. It's so sharp, it will cut you if you look at it wrong. It'll cut through anything! You can see it here (I have the long one). Of course, you don't have to have a Cutco knife, but you do need a good bread knife.

 

We use a Cutco bread knife as well. Totally saved us from mangled crushed useless-for-anything-but-breadcrumbs loaves. :D

[girligirlmom]

Can someone please explain to me how to slice my homemade bread WITHOUT crushing the loaf, WITHOUT having a slice paper thin on top and an inch thick on the bottom, and WITHOUT causing me to give up and just tear it into chunks, slap some butter on it and tell the kids to just eat their ham and cheese separate.

 

I know I can buy a bread guide but I have two loaves sitting on my counter mocking me because I am going to need to cut them up in the morning.:glare:

 

(I really don't want to spend the money on the guide either)

I also turn my bread upside down and then I slice it. It makes it so much easier since the hardest part of the crust is at the bottom. I do use a serrated bread knife, but nothing fancier than what came in my block of knives which I received at my bridal shower in 1993.

Edited April 21, 2010 by girligirlmom

[Quiver0f10]

Can someone please explain to me how to slice my homemade bread WITHOUT crushing the loaf, WITHOUT having a slice paper thin on top and an inch thick on the bottom, and WITHOUT causing me to give up and just tear it into chunks, slap some butter on it and tell the kids to just eat their ham and cheese separate.

 

I know I can buy a bread guide but I have two loaves sitting on my counter mocking me because I am going to need to cut them up in the morning.:glare:

 

(I really don't want to spend the money on the guide either)

 

 

Buy a good bread knife and as hard as this sounds, let the bread cool completely before slicing! :D

[TeaTotaler]

I just wanted to add that my Pampered Chef serrated bread knife has been going strong since 1996. Yes, it does help to have the bread cool completely and slicing it on its side. I usually freeze my extra loaves so those do fine. However that first loaf is always tricky because it is so fresh. Who can wait till it cools down completely? :001_smile:

 

Can someone please explain to me how to slice my homemade bread WITHOUT crushing the loaf, WITHOUT having a slice paper thin on top and an inch thick on the bottom, and WITHOUT causing me to give up and just tear it into chunks, slap some butter on it and tell the kids to just eat their ham and cheese separate.

 

I know I can buy a bread guide but I have two loaves sitting on my counter mocking me because I am going to need to cut them up in the morning.:glare:

 

(I really don't want to spend the money on the guide either)

[RoughCollie]

We use an electric knife on our bread, but I still couldn't get the slices even until DH told me this trick: don't *try* to keep the bread slice even, instead focus on keeping the knife perpendicular to the cutting board.

 

I'll try that the next time I make bread. Thanks for posting the tip.

 

RC

[Melissa in Australia]

Make bread rolls. (buns) end of problem!

[RanchGirl]

I have an electric bread knife and a bread - guide, they are critical to making sandwich thin slices!