The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

brand of lame

Janna3921's picture
Janna3921

brand of lame

Okay, using a knife isn't a good thing to do for slashing bread.

So, I have two options, one I don't think is a good one, take the old razors my dad used when he was a barber and shaved a man's face.  Extremely sharp, but dangerous and were used on a human face.  So, that one is out.  

Other, buy a lame.  Now, what one?  I have been reading about different ones on Amazon, I ignored the expensive ones, keeping it at under $15.  The two brands that I have been focusing my looking at is the Breadtopia and the Mure & Peyrot.

I have some plastic cases that I can use to store it in, so that isn't a problem, but which is best?  Type of blades needed are, from what I am reading, regular, plain ole double sided blades, not the fancy ones that they want, as one reviewer stated, "a million dollars for something that I can buy for pennies elsewhere".

Went to the mall today to check out the Kitchen store.  It was more of gadgets and silly stuff as I see it.  Asked about something to roll dough on that I could cut on.  Showed me some silicone mats.  Only good thing of it was forced hubby to buy new shoes and I bought a loaf of white bread and a small loaf of Asiago bread at Panera to see what it would taste like.  There isn't one near our home area.  

 

MichaelLily's picture
MichaelLily

Breadtopia lame. Works great. They also sell razor blades for 10¢ apiece I think.

alfanso's picture
alfanso

Holder is an old thin file wrapped in blue masking tape.  Others use coffee stirrers, chopsticks, etc.  Blade is from a pack of 10 from the local pharmacy, supermarket...

Each double edge blade provides 4 scoring blades/tips.  When one corner is used up, I mark it with an 'X' and change the orientation of the blade in the holder to expose the next new corner.

 

 

 

Weizenbrot's picture
Weizenbrot

...at the hardware store. No handle necessary, and they are inexpensive enough to throw away after a few uses.

gwschenk's picture
gwschenk

Same here. They seem to work fine. When I worked at a bakery we used broken slicer blades.

Wild-Yeast's picture
Wild-Yeast

The following post comes from a discussion on Lame's on this site from August 2013.

Lame - Concept Art - Prototype

 Borrowed some of the best features from the lame sold by SFBI designing one with a lemon-wood handle (pruned from a Meyer Lemon tree), stainless-steel mandrel (worn out hack-saw blade), J-B Weld Epoxy and double edge safety razors. 

Currently in the middle of constructing the prototype. Pictures in a day or two of the finished item.

Construction went to plan. [Photo below].

Things learned from this project:

  • A tooth brush travel container makes a great storage container and will also store your supply of double edge safety razor blades (depending on their packaging)
  • Bakers are practical and thrifty
  • "Whatever works" applies to slashing blades
  • A cheap, thin, curved, replaceable blade works better than a straight blade
  • It's nearly impossible to hone a fixed, curved blade to a razor edge sharpness
  • The long use of double edge "safety razors" for slashing implies that nobody has found a better solution

Wild-Yeast

AndyPanda's picture
AndyPanda

I first made the traditional type where the doubled edged blade is flexed - I assumed the only reason for that was how simple and easy it is to make a handle.     But then I saw this one in a video and so I made one like this and it's easier for me to use (but I'm a newbie and don't know what I'm doing yet).

jimbtv's picture
jimbtv

My take is that as the blade makes its cut, the flap is then lifted ever so slightly to avoid a re-welding of the flap to the body of the loaf again.

Different bread compositions and different hydrations effect the success of my scores. Drier hydrations with a lot of tension pop when scored, with little chance of re-welding. Heavier, wetter doughs may require more than one pass with the lame and greater efforts to create some separation.

All of this will then be affected by the amount of steam in the oven. Greater steam will assist even the most stubborn score - at least in the first minute or two of the bake.

hbrochs's picture
hbrochs

I buy long single edge razor blades at the hardware store.

They are like 3 or 4 inches long and don't need a handle, very cheap.