Bread Knife

A bread knife is a long serrated knife, usually 200mm to 260mm (8 to 10 inches), built to cut through hard crust without crushing the soft crumb underneath. The serrations do the work: each point bites into the crust and starts the cut, so you saw gently instead of pressing down.

That's the whole reason this knife exists. A straight edge has to be forced through a crust, and the pressure flattens the loaf before the blade gets through. A serrated bread-cutting knife removes the need for force.

Length matters more than most shoppers expect. A blade that is too short for the loaf may require extra strokes and can make clean slicing harder.

Shop Bread Knives

Explore our bread knives for slicing crusty loaves, sandwich bread, cakes, and other foods with firm exteriors and soft interiors. Compare blade lengths, serration styles, handles, and overall construction to find the right fit for your kitchen.

Browse the collection to find a bread cutter knife suited to your usual loaf size, cutting style, and everyday baking needs.

What Is a Bread Knife?

A bread knife is a long, narrow kitchen knife with a serrated edge, designed for foods with a firm exterior and a soft interior. The blade is straight rather than curved, because the cut relies on a back-and-forth sawing stroke instead of a rocking motion.

Most are ground with serrations on one side only, leaving the other face flat. That asymmetry is deliberate: it lets the teeth grip and pull into the crust rather than skate across it.

Why Is a Bread Knife Serrated?

A bread knife is serrated because points concentrate force. Each tooth meets the crust over a tiny area, so it pierces at a pressure a smooth edge can't reach without you pushing down.

Once through the crust, the valleys between the teeth slice the crumb while the points keep the blade tracking straight. The result is a slice with its structure intact rather than compressed. That's why a bread knife serrated edge outperforms a sharper straight blade on a baguette, even though the straight blade is keener.

What Is a Bread Knife Used For?

A knife for cutting bread handles anything with a tough skin over a soft interior:

• crusty loaves, sourdough, baguettes, and rolls
• soft sandwich loaves and brioche, where pressure would flatten the crumb
• layer cakes and sponge, split horizontally
• melons, pineapple, and squash with hard rinds
• tomatoes and peppers, where skins defeat a dull straight edge

It's the wrong tool wherever you need a clean, flat cut face. Serrations leave a slightly ragged surface, so use a slicing knife for carving meat and a chef knife for board work.

Pointed or Wavy Serrations?

Both cut bread; they differ in aggression and feel.

Pointed serrations

Sharp, triangular teeth that bite hardest into thick crust, so a dark-baked sourdough or a day-old baguette takes fewer strokes. They tend to tear soft crumb slightly more.

Wavy or scalloped serrations

Rounded scallops forming a continuous cutting curve. They move more smoothly through soft loaves, cake, and tomato skin, but need a few more passes through hard crust.

Either way, a knife for bread should saw, not press. If you mostly cut crusty loaves, choose pointed teeth; if most of your cutting is soft bread, cake, and produce, a wavy edge feels gentler.

Choosing Length and Handle

Length

Measure your usual loaf and add about 50mm, so the blade clears both crusts in one stroke. A bread slice knife that stops short of the far crust will tear the last inch every time. In practice: 200mm for sandwich loaves and baguettes, 230mm for most home baking, 250–260mm for a wide boule.

Blade width and flex

A narrow blade drags less through dense crumb. Slight flex helps when following the top of a cake layer; a stiffer blade tracks straighter through hard crust.

Handle height

An offset handle sits above the blade line, keeping your knuckles clear as the blade reaches the board. It's genuinely useful for board cutting, though it stores awkwardly and looks unconventional.

Steel

Serration geometry matters more than steel choice here, because the valleys between teeth never touch the board and stay sharp long after a straight edge would have dulled. Stainless is the practical default. High-carbon steel takes a finer initial edge and is easier to re-point, at the cost of drying it after every use.

How to Cut Bread Well

Technique matters as much as the knife.

• Let the blade saw. Long, light strokes with almost no downward pressure. Pushing down is what crushes a loaf.
• Start at the far edge and draw back. Beginning on the pull stroke stops the crust sliding away.
• Cut cooled bread. Warm loaves gum the blade, and the crumb compresses however good the knife is.
• Support the loaf flat-palmed. Gripping the sides squeezes the shape out of it.

Sharpening a Serrated Edge

Serrated knives stay usable far longer than straight ones, but they aren't maintenance-free.

Sharpen each scallop individually

Use a tapered ceramic or diamond rod that matches the scallop's diameter. Work only the bevelled side, matching the existing angle, with roughly five to ten light strokes per tooth until you feel a burr on the flat side.

Never sharpen the flat side

Grinding it destroys the asymmetry the edge depends on. Remove the burr with one or two very light passes, no more.

Know when to stop

Repeated sharpening wears the teeth down below their original height, and the edge stops biting crust. At that point the knife is worn out rather than dull, and no amount of rod work brings it back.