4 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:I had come to realize my trusty Wusthof 8 inch was no longer cutting it. OK for a baguette perhaps. Unfortunately these serrated knifes with pointed tips are no longer in the Wusthof catalog so purchase of a longer one was not a possibility. They used to be available in several sizes. The closest I found was the Wusthof 10 inch bread knife:
http://www.wusthof.com/10-bread-knife
But this looked a little flimsy in comparison and there was not much height to the blade with no room for knuckles. And so I went shopping for another brand of bread knife.
Many of my knives are Chicago Cutlery and they offer several such. However I have ruled out a "bread knife" with a rounded tip as I believe these are more suited to slicing protein than bread. Besides I already have a Wusthof 16 inch with a rounded tip. Worse I have read the quality of Chicago Cutlery has deteriorated over the years.
Last month I bought a Cuisinart electric bread knife as recommended by Modernist Bread. Unfortunately the Cuisinart does not cut through bread. Maybe others have had a better experience?
Fat Guy and others have argued for a chef knife but in my hands a chef knife, not even my heavy 12 inch one, can intimidate a hunk of bread.
I checked out the usual suspects and I even found a bread saw.
But what I went with was a Henckels 10 inch that was taller and half again as heavy as the Wusthof. Though I'm guessing the Wusthof would have had a little harder steel.
Are there any new recommendations?
I have had the Cuisinart electric knife for years and I use it for all my homemade breads except those with a hard crust; you're right, it doesn't handle those very well. For that I use my Wusthof, it does an excellent job (although it is considerably more expensive now than what it was when I bought mine eight years ago).
