A bread knife is an important item for those who eat bread frequently.
When you hear of a bread knife, you may think of one made of stainless steel.
However, ceramic bread knives have many good points.
I would like to introduce you to a Japanese ceramic bread knife made by Kyocera, which I use all the time.
It cuts very well and the sharpness lasts quite a long time!
It takes some getting used to, but it is very useful for cutting Danish breads such as croissants and soft breads without crushing them.
We will also introduce some tips on how to make a clean cut.
It is also useful for cutting vegetables as well as bread!
- What is the difference between a bread knife and a regular knife?
- Japanese ceramic bread knives are very sharp
- Japanese ceramic bread knives have good lasting sharpness.
- What are some tips on how to cut bread to make it look nice?
- For more than just bread! Ceramic knives are also recommended because they cut vegetables well!
- Finally
What is the difference between a bread knife and a regular knife?
For those of you who are wondering, “Is a bread knife really necessary?”
We will first briefly indicate the difference between a bread knife and a kitchen knife.
The main difference between a bread knife and a kitchen knife is whether the blade is serrated or not.
The bread knife has a serrated blade, which makes it easier to get the blade into hard bread crusts.
The video below shows a comparison of cutting baguette with a bread knife and a kitchen knife.
■Bread knife
■Kitchen Knife
You might think, “Maybe the kitchen knife is just not sharp enough.”
The ease of cutting varies that much!
By the way, this kitchen knife is sharpened regularly, so it can cut vegetables and other items with ease!
We hope you now understand that the serrated blade of a bread knife is very important to cut bread cleanly.
Japanese ceramic bread knives are very sharp
We compared the sharpness and the cross section of the bread after cutting using a common stainless steel bread knife and a ceramic bread knife.
Check the sharpness of each bread knife
We cut a campagne and checked the sharpness.
In contrast to the stainless steel bread knife, the ceramic bread knife has a very good sharpness, with the feeling that the blade is easily inserted into the bread.
Also, the stainless steel bread knife required many jiggles to cut the bread, whereas the ceramic bread knife cut the bread with fewer jiggles.
The following is the result of cutting a loaf of bread on a weight scale and measuring the force applied when cutting.
- Stainless steel bread knife: approx. 1600 g
- Ceramic bread knife: approx. 1400 g
The ceramic bread knife was able to cut bread with less force than the stainless steel bread knife.
Check the cross section of the bread
Next, a picture of a cross-section of the bread is shown below.
When the stainless steel bread knife was used, the cross section of the bread was shaggy and uneven due to repeated jiggling and cutting.
On the other hand, those cut with the ceramic bread knife have a clean cross section, indicating that it cuts well.
■Croissants can be cut cleanly!
The picture below shows a croissant cut with a Japanese ceramic bread knife.
Danish bread is easily crushed and the crust easily peels off, but once you get used to it, you can cut it quite nicely.
Japanese ceramic bread knives have good lasting sharpness.
Kyocera’s ceramic knives are made of “fine ceramics,” a material with much higher hardness than stainless steel.
This makes it difficult for the cutting edge to wear away, and sharp cutting edges (sharpness) can be maintained for a long period of time.
On the other hand, it is inferior to stainless steel in that it is prone to chipping when subjected to impact.
The picture below shows a Japanese ceramic knife I used for about three years.
I thought the sharpness was getting a little worse, so I took a closer look at the edge of the blade and could see that the cutting edge was slightly chipped.
(I use it about three times a week, mostly to cut hard bread.)
However, I have to look at it carefully to see it, so unless you handle it very roughly, I don’t think the blade will be heavily damaged.
What are some tips on how to cut bread to make it look nice?
There are two tips on how to cut bread with a bread knife to make it look nice.
Tip 1: Reduce the number of times the bread knife is pushed and pulled.
When cutting bread, use the entire blade, rather than small increments, and minimize the number of pushes and pulls as much as possible.
This is because the fewer the number of pushes and pulls, the fewer the rattles in the cross section and the cleaner the cut.
Tip 2: Change the amount of force according to the hardness of the bread.
For hard breads such as baguettes, it is easier to cut them cleanly with fewer pushes and pulls by pressing the bread knife harder.
On the other hand, for soft bread before toasting or Danish bread, which tends to be crushed easily, you may have to push and pull more often, but I think you can cut cleanly by pressing the bread knife less forcefully.
For more than just bread! Ceramic knives are also recommended because they cut vegetables well!
The sharpness of Japanese Kyocera ceramic knives can be felt even when cutting vegetables.
In this case, we cut tomatoes, which are often found to be relatively difficult to cut, to check the sharpness.
The jagged blade made it possible to cut even the hard-to-cut skin of tomatoes with light force without slipping!
Finally
These are some of the features, comfort, and cutting tips of Japanese ceramic bread knives.
The sharpness of the cut eliminates the stress of cutting bread, and the clean cut makes me happy!
Ceramic is easy to clean as it does not mind using a dishwasher or bleach.
It can cut croissants beautifully, and besides bread, it can also cut tomatoes, which are difficult to cut, beautifully, so it’s very convenient!
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