"Ribitt" > wrote in message
able.rogers.com...
> I have been totally unsuccessful in getting decent slashes on bread. I
have
> tried a freshly sharpened knife, a serrated knife, an exacto knife and a
> razor blade.
>
> Does a lame improve things? No comments, please, on my doubtful ability.
>
> The bread always is fine with a butchered look.
>
>
I got this from
The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by
Peter Reinhart



"Use a razor sharp blade or a double-edged blade on a stick called a “lame.”



The cut is made with just the tip of the blade to avoid dragging the back
part of the blade through the dough, which would rip it, rather than
slitting it. Say the word, “slit” when you make the cut to emphasize this
over any other notion of cutting, like slitting an envelope.



The cut should NOT go straight down, but rather on an angle, so that the
slit is almost parallel to the surface of the bread.



This will encourage a separation between the crust side of the cut and the
rest of the loaf, resulting in what is called an ear.



As the loaf bakes, it will spring in the oven releasing some of the trapped
gasses through the weakest points, the cut points, causing the loaf to open
in what the French call la gringne, or the grin, and we call the bloom.



In competitions, the loaves are judged to a great extent on the uniformity
and consistency of the cuts and the quality of the bloom."



Dee