What is the best bread knife?

Most knife sets come with a serrated bread knife. I have never given the bread knife a second thought and used the one that came with the set happily until I read an article about what makes a great bread knife. My run of the mill breadknife that came with the knife set must now be replaced.

All knives, including bread knives, are either forged or stamped. Forged bread knives are made from a single piece of steel which is heated and hammered into shape. Stamped bread knives are cut out from a large sheet of steel. In the forged steel, the molecules are manipulated in a way that makes the knife harder and stronger, and they retain their sharp edge for longer than stamped knives. Stamped knives can be lighter weight and are inexpensive, but not as durable or strong.

With a good bread knife you will no longer mangle the inside soft bread still warm from the oven, or a delicate layer cake. A good bread knife should be able to slice tomatoes without tearing the skin or destroying the tomato and you should never struggle to slice through a thick bottom crust. The correct bread knife will easily handle all situations without doing any damage. Ideally you want just one all purpose bread knife. Purists might feel the need for more specialized ones. If you are a bread and other baked goods lover for example, you might need one bread knife for large loaves, and one for more delicate pastries. In this article I’m focusing on finding the bread knives that can work for all situations.

What to consider when choosing your knife:

Most bread knife sets come with a 7” – 9” serrated blade. If you want a knife for large loaves with thick crusts, you should consider having a knife long enough to extend past the diameter of the loaf. If the knife gets lost in what it is cutting the result will be uneven and rough slices.
Most bread knives have blades made from steel. Higher quality knives use high-carbon steel which makes for a harder, more durable and more expensive blade.
The ’tang’ in a bread knife is the part of the blade that extends into the handle. Full-tang knives have tangs that extend the entire way down the handle. This makes the knife stronger than half-tang or partial-tang knives.
The handle should be comfortable in your hand.
If you wash your blade by hand your blade will keep its sharp edge for longer.
The reason bread knives are serrated is so the teeth can cut through a firm or crusty exterior without damaging the usually soft interior.
Serrated-edged knives can be sharpened but only with a ceramic or an angled sharpening rod. The alternative is to have your serrated edged knives professionally sharpened. Many hardware stores and specialty cookware shops have sharpening services.
Wood or plastic are the two best cutting board materials. Glass, bamboo and granite are the worst for knife blades.

Zwilling Pro 9” bread knife has unique serrations that work with most breads. It made clean, even slices of baguette and sourdough loaves. It also sliced a tomato perfectly. It is dishwasher safe. The blade is 9″, the total knife length is 14.17”. The blade is forged from high carbon steel and the handle is plastic. $130.99.

The Good Housekeeping Institute lab found the Victorinox Fibrox 10.25” to be the best overall bread knife. The thermoplastic rubber handle is comfortable and it performed beautifully on hearty bread crusts and strawberries cut paper-thin. The blade is stamped from high carbon steel. $32.83.

The same Good Housekeeping Institute lab rated the Wusthof Classic 9” Double Serrated bread knife the easiest to use. The review said it had the best stability and balance of the five knives they tested, and that the riveted handles fit the curvature of your hand. It is forged, has full tang, and the blade is high carbon steel. The only con was that it is ‘pricey’. $150.00.

The Tojiro Hand Made Bread Knife has a 9.25” stamped steel blade made by the best knife company in Japan. The food website Serious Eats rated this knife the best in their most recent bread knife survey. Their cooks have used it for over 10 years and in every bread knife survey they’ve done it has ranked at the top. $40.00.

Epicurious takes the stance that “a high-quality bread knife is an absolute must in any knife collection”. In their most recent survey of the best bread knife, the best serrated knife overall is the Mac Professional Series 10.5” Bread/Roast slicer. Professional chefs loved the length of the blade because “it can simply slice more in a single stroke with less effort”. The blade is thinner than most of the knives they tested and it “frictionlessly saws into whatever it is you’re cutting while requiring minimal force”. Its other selling point is that the blade has a gentle curve which makes a difference when you need to make a specific cut. It is forged, and made from high carbon steel, $99.95.