The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

New Approaches

KNEADLESS's picture
KNEADLESS

New Approaches

Well we just made our annual trek from the Chicago area down to Fort Myers where we will ride out the winter until May. I am into day 5 of a pineapple juice/whole wheat flour sourdough system and so far, so good. Today I made Floyd's rustic bread recipe again and it turned out very good. What I really want to talk about is a new tool, which I haven't seen mentioned by anyone else. That is, an electric knife.

 

Like most of the people participating on this excellent site, I have periodic problems slashing. I have had my best success with serrated knives, but for very wet doughs they are too grabby. Today I tried an electric knife and it was like cutting butter. The tops of the loaves were stationary as the blades sunk in.

 

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has tried this approach.

 

George

Comments

sphealey's picture
sphealey

If I remember correctly, Rose Levy suggested trying the electric knife in The Bread Bible.

 

sPh

rolls's picture
rolls

that is a really smart idea, and i love the bread bible

rjerden's picture
rjerden

I usually use a double edge razor blade threaded onto a chopstick (one of the good ones, not the cheap throwaways) as a lame. It works better if sprayed with a little oil and dipped into flour before slashing. (The only problem is actually finding a store that sells double-edged blades anymore.)

I was making some bread at my son's house a few months ago and had to improvise. The serrated knife dragged badly on the 1st loaf. My daugher-in-law suggested that I try snipping the top of the loaf with her small, thin, craft scissors. It worked like a charm! You have complete control of depth and length of the cut as you snip along. This was a single vertical slash on sandwich loaves, but I think it would work well on baquettes, also.

Cheers,

Roy