How to Find the Best Bread Knife with Cooks Illustrated
If you’re in the market for a new bread knife, you’ve probably been overwhelmed by the sheer number of options out there.
And for good reason: Bread knives come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and prices.
However, the decision process can become a lot easier when you have the right information.
Cooks Illustrated helps with trimming down the options available on the market. However, we have put together a Buyers Guide that will make the decision-making process that much simpler for you.
In this article we are going to run through our Top 3 favorite Bread Knives and each with their pros and cons.
We then dive into a detailed Buyers Guide that will help you to consider the different questions and features that will give you the confidence in knowing that you are buying the Best Bread Knife for you.
Top 3 Best Bread Knives for Cutting Hard Crust
Image
Title
Learn More
Top
Bread Knife, imarku German High Carbon Stainless Steel Professional Grade Bread Slicing Knife, 10-Inch Serrated Edge Cake Knife, Bread Cutter for Homemade Crusty Bread
The Imarku German Professional Bread Knife is truly a sight to behold. It’s sleek and elegant design makes this knife a showpiece in your kitchen. It even comes with its own knife case for easy storage and enhances its showpiece status.
The 10-inch blade is made from high carbon stainless steel, giving it anti-rusting properties and increases its durability. The unique serrated edge helps to slice through the hard crust with ease, and then cleanly cuts through the soft interior of the sourdough.
What we love about the Imarku Bread Knife is the elegant looking wooden handle. Ergonomically designed, it sits comfortably in your hand securely and more importantly, safely.
Pros
ergonomic wooden handle that is very elegantly designed
high carbon stainless steel blade with anti-rust and durable properties
responsive customer service for after sales service
Cons
although this is specifically a bread knife, some customers mentioned it could use some dimple texture on the blade to help avoid catching on wet foods
🔪High-carbon Raw Materials: The 10 inch bread knife body is made of high-carbon stainless steel imported from Germany, which makes this knife more durable.and the anti-corrosion performance is improved. Effectively avoid rust when cutting bread, cakes and other foods.
🔪Serrated Edge Design: This bread knife adopts the Serrated design. Each serrated edge is relatively independent, which enhances the cutting ability. According to the mechanical test，serrated bread knife is more suitable for soft foods such as bread and cakes.
🔪Ergonomic Wood Handle：The shape of the bread knife handle conforms to the ergonomic design, which improves the comfort of the grip during actual use, making it easier for the user to cut bread slices, avoiding stuttering, making your kitchen work better，and it also friendly for left hand peoples.
🔪Best Gift Choice: Our 10 inch bread knife use the exquisite gift box as the outer packaging. The box inside uses fine flannel as the raw material to wrap the serrated knife in all directions. Make it looks elegant and beautiful. It is a nice choice given to parents, relatives and friends as a gift at Christmas.
🔪Excellent After-sales service: We have a dedicated after-sales service team to deal with the problems after the product is sold, so you can buy our kitchen bread knife without any worries. We will reply within 24 hours after receiving your email to ensure Achieve 100% satisfaction for customers who choose our pro bread knife.
Another great option for a superior bread knife is the Mercer Culinary Millennia Bread Knife.
The Mercer is more of your traditional looking bread knife, with a black handle made from santoprene and polypropylene for comfort and durability.
The handle has been thoughtfully designed, with ergonomic features for good grip and safety.
The blade has been made from the highest quality Japanese steel which has easy blade maintenance properties and sharp edge longevity. The entire blade is also made from one-piece high carbon steel, which means it is extra strong and stain resistant.
Pros
ergonomic light handle for comfort and safety
high carbon Japanese steel blade with anti-stain and durable properties
good quality blade at affordable price representing great value
Cons
if you are in the 100% plastic free camp, this knife is not for you as the handle contains plastic
The final knife to make our Best Bread Knife for Hard Crust top list is the Orblue Bread Knife.
The Orblue is an impressive looking knife that looks like it is made from one piece of metal. The metal handle gives the entire knife a sleep looking design that will surely impress in the kitchen.
Orblue claim the knife’s superior blade will effortlessly cut through the toughest of bread crust in a smooth and clean cut.
It has an 8 inch (ca. 20 cm) serrated blade made from high quality stainless steel that comes with its own rubbery guard to protect the knife’s edge.
The metal handle is 4.9 inches (ca. 12 cm) long and sits nicely in your hand with its ergonomic design.
The entire knife is made from one piece of stainless steel with no plastic or wood – meaning you will be enjoying this bread knife for years to come.
Pros
made from a single piece of high quality stainless steel
comfortable ergonomic design for easy handling and safety features
ULTRA-SHARP, CUTS EFFORTLESSLY: The Orblue Serrated Bread Knife blade has an ultra-sharp serrated edge that grips and effortlessly slices the toughest loaves of bread, to provide a smooth, clean cut. The blade runs 8 inches long with a 4.9 inch handle. Included as an added safety measure on the knife’s sharp tip is a rubber safety guard.
HIGH QUALITY STAINLESS STEEL: Made with high quality stainless steel and only 2.2 mm and 0.1 mm thick, the quality is durable enough to withstand everyday use on the toughest breads.
SLEEK ERGONOMIC DESIGN: The knife was ergonomically designed with careful attention to detail, so you can slice comfortably and easily. The handle is made to perfectly fit any grip, making slicing harder loaves a breeze.
ONE PIECE DESIGN: The entire knife is one continuous piece of stainless steel. There is no plastic, wood parts, or screws that tend to move and wear out over time, so you can be confident that your knife is built to last for years.
NOT JUST FOR BREAD: This serrated knife is so sharp it easily grips and cuts through cake, crusty bread, bagels, pastries. Budget friendly, its the perfect gift for all the bakers in your life!
Finding the right knife for your specific purposes isn’t easy. There are so many on the market, it is easy to become overwhelmed and exhausted.
This is why we thought it would be helpful to create a buyers guide to run through the features that will make a difference in your next knife purchase.
So in no particular order, let’s take a look at the important aspects of a knife.
Knife Blade Design
The blade of a bread knife is what makes these particular knives unique.
The best bread knives will have a serrated sharp edge that will cut through bread easily and with minimal effort.
It also needs to be long so the bread can be sliced in one motion, rather than in a sawing motion. Again, this prevents the agitation of the bread leaving one clean slice down the face of the bread and with little mess.
The blade should be relatively thin, but sturdy. The sturdiness of the knife allows you to cut through the hard crust, while the thin aspects allows you to slice through the inner softer parts with ease.
Handle
Handles on knives are as important as the blade. Without a complementary handle, using even the best bread knife blade will become difficult and a chore.
The handle should be ergonomically designed to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand. It should also have a comforting weight to it, so you know you have a good grip and control of the knife.
Without these aspects, it can actually be dangerous to use a knife, as you can lose control and result in some serious injuries.
Comfort
In addition to the above comfort aspects of the handle a knife should feel like the extension of your arm. It should not be cumbersome to use or maneuver. If cutting through bread feels like you are cutting through butter, you know you have the best bread knife for your needs.
Design
We have covered most of the good design aspects of a good bread knife for hard crust in the above points. However, there is one more aspect that we need to highlight. As with all the best knives on the market, a good knife should be well-balanced. This means you should be able to place the knife on your index finger under the curve where the blade meets the handle and it should balance with relative ease.
Final Verdict
If you are looking for the cooks illustrated best bread knife for cutting through the hard crust of your bread loaves, look no further. We have covered the features you should be looking for in your next knife purchase. Precision knife-edge technology, well-balanced design and a comfortable ergonomic handle are the cornerstone features for the best bread knife.
With three well presented knives, you are spoiled for choice to select your next excellent bread knife.
