What Is a Bread Knife Used For?

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Search interest in “what is a bread knife used for” has climbed in recent months, and I suspect it’s the same story as with santokus: people open a knife block set, find a long knife with teeth, and wonder whether it’s worth keeping. It is. After a chef’s knife and a paring knife, a bread knife is the third knife almost every kitchen should have.

In my workshop, a toothed blade is the right tool whenever you need to start a cut in something hard and finish it in something soft without crushing. A bread knife is exactly that tool for the kitchen.

What a bread knife looks like

• Long blade: usually 8 to 10 inches, sometimes longer. Victorinox’s guide to choosing a bread knife suggests 21 to 26 cm (about 8 to 10 inches) suits most kitchens.
• Serrated edge: a row of teeth, either pointed or rounded (wavy/scalloped).
• Usually beveled on one side: one face has the serrations ground in; the other is flat.
• Often a rounded or blunt tip: you don’t need a point for slicing.
• Sometimes “wide” or “offset”: a taller blade or a raised handle gives your knuckles more room above the board.

How serrations work

A smooth edge cuts by being thin and sharp. On a hard crust or a slippery tomato skin, it tends to skate across the surface before it bites, and then you press down and crush what’s underneath.

A serrated edge cuts by gripping. The points of the teeth catch the crust or skin right away and break through it, while the hollows between the teeth slice the soft inside. Victorinox puts it simply: serrations grip the crust before cutting through the softer center.

Another advantage: most of the cutting edge sits in the hollows between the teeth, where it rarely touches the board. That’s why a bread knife stays sharp for years.

What a bread knife is used for

Crusty bread and sourdough. The main job. A bread knife slices through a thick crust and leaves an open crumb intact. My guide to the best bread knife for sourdough goes into the details.

Soft sandwich bread and brioche. Soft loaves squash easily. Long, light strokes with a bread knife slice them cleanly.

Bagels, rolls and baguettes. Hard outsides, soft insides.

Tomatoes. The teeth break the skin without squashing the fruit. This is the job most people discover by accident.

Layer cakes. Leveling the domed top and splitting a cake into layers, using long, gentle strokes.

Citrus. Slicing lemons, limes and oranges, and cutting away the peel.

Pineapple and melon. Cutting through the tough rind of pineapple, cantaloupe and watermelon.

Sandwiches. Cutting a tall sandwich or sub without squishing the fillings.

Peaches, plums and other soft-skinned fruit.

Pastry. Puff pastry and croissants, which crush under a smooth blade.

What a bread knife isn’t for

• Fine chopping and mincing. A chef’s knife does this much better.
• Raw meat. Serrations tear raw meat. Use a chef’s knife or slicer.
• Bones and frozen food. You’ll bend or chip the teeth.
• Scraping food off the board. You’ll bend the teeth.
• Precise thin slices of vegetables. Use a chef’s knife or santoku.

Bread knife vs. chef’s knife

The two complement each other. That’s why my 3 knives you need guide includes both.

Wavy edge or pointed serrations?

Wavy (scalloped) edges have broad, rounded teeth. They’re gentler, leave fewer crumbs and are great on soft bread, cakes and tomatoes. The Mercer Millennia and Victorinox Fibrox Pro bread knives use wavy edges.

Pointed serrations have sharper, deeper teeth. They bite harder into very thick or dark crusts. The sourdough blog The Pantry Mama prefers pointed serrations for crusty loaves.

For most home kitchens, either works well.

What length should you buy?

The rule: the blade should be longer than the loaf is wide, so you can use full strokes without the tip disappearing inside the bread. For most people, 10 inches is the sweet spot.

How to use a bread knife

1. Let bread cool. Warm bread tears no matter what knife you use. The Pantry Mama suggests 4 to 6 hours for sourdough.
2. Hold the loaf with a claw grip. Fingertips curled, knuckles toward the blade.
3. Start with a few short strokes to get the teeth through the top crust.
4. Switch to long, light strokes. Use the full length of the blade. Victorinox says forcing the blade downward usually crushes the bread.
5. Let the knife do the work. No pressing down.
6. For a hard bottom crust, tip the loaf on its side and finish from the side.

For cakes: set the cake on a turntable if you have one. Hold the knife level, score a line around the cake, then slowly saw toward the center while turning.

For tomatoes: a single light stroke usually breaks the skin. Then slice with gentle back-and-forth motion.

How to keep a bread knife sharp

Bread knives stay sharp a long time, but not forever.

• Cut on wood or plastic. Glass, stone and ceramic boards blunt the teeth.
• Don’t press down hard. It wears the points.
• Hand wash and dry. The dishwasher knocks the teeth against other items. Mercer says its knives shouldn’t go in the dishwasher; Victorinox lists its Fibrox Pro bread knife as dishwasher safe, but hand washing is still better.
• Store it safely. A magnetic strip or a blade guard keeps the teeth from getting bent.

When it does get dull, you can sharpen it with a tapered rod, a sharpener with a serrated setting or a professional service. My guide on how to sharpen a serrated knife covers each method. For a cheap bread knife, replacing it is often the practical choice.

Bread knives I recommend

Mercer Millennia 10-inch wavy edge: the budget favorite with home bakers. A wide blade for knuckle clearance and a textured handle. Mercer says no dishwasher.

Victorinox Fibrox Pro 10.25-inch: light at 4.8 oz according to Victorinox, with a grippy handle. Listed as dishwasher safe.

Tojiro 270 mm bread slicer (F-687): a 10.75-inch blade in molybdenum vanadium stainless at 60 HRC, 6.1 oz, with a riveted pakkawood handle, per Cutlery and More’s listing. The upgrade for frequent bakers.

Bread knife jobs, by food

Bagel safety

Bagels send more people to urgent care than you’d guess, usually because someone holds the bagel in their palm and cuts toward their hand. With a bread knife, it’s easy to avoid:

• Lay the bagel flat on the board.
• Hold the top with your palm flat and fingers up and away.
• Cut horizontally, parallel to the board, with the blade moving away from your hand.
• Or stand the bagel on its edge and cut down, holding it with a claw grip.

A bagel guillotine or holder is cheap and removes the risk entirely if you slice bagels often.

Bread knife vs. electric knife

Electric knives use two serrated blades that move back and forth. They’re fast for big batches of bread, roasts and turkey, and some bakers like them for very crusty loaves. They’re also loud, bulky and need storage and cleaning. For most home kitchens, a manual bread knife does everything an electric knife does for bread, more quietly.

Signs it’s time to replace a bread knife

• It tears soft bread even after you’ve tried sharpening.
• Several teeth are bent, chipped or missing.
• The handle is cracked or loose.
• It crushes tomatoes that it used to slice easily.

For a budget bread knife, replacement is often cheaper and quicker than professional sharpening.

Do you really need a bread knife?

If you ever buy crusty bread, bake, or slice tomatoes, yes. It’s an inexpensive knife that does several jobs much better than anything else in the block, and it protects your chef’s knife from the hard crusts and tomato-squashing frustration that tempt you to press too hard.

If you only ever eat pre-sliced bread and never cut tomatoes, you could skip it. Most people find they use it more than they expected.

Offset bread knives

Some bread knives have the handle raised above the blade, like an offset spatula. This puts more space between your knuckles and the board, which helps on the last part of each slice. They’re popular with sandwich makers and bakers who slice a lot. The trade-off is that they can feel awkward for cakes and tomatoes. A “wide” straight bread knife, like the Mercer, gives some of the same knuckle clearance.

Left-handed bread knives

Because most bread knives are beveled on one side, they can drift slightly in a left hand, so slices come out uneven. Some makers sell left-handed versions; Mercer, for example, makes a left-handed Millennia bread knife. If you’re left-handed and slice a lot of bread, it’s worth looking for one.