Bread knives are used for cutting bread and
are one of many kitchen knives used by chefs.
The serrated blades of bread knives are able
to cut soft bread without crushing it.
== History ==
One such knife was exhibited at the World's
Columbian Exposition in 1893 in Chicago by
the Friedrich Dick company (Esslingen, Germany).
One design was patented in the United States
by Joseph E. Burns of Syracuse, New York.
His knife had sections of grooves or serrations,
inclined with respect to the axis of the blade,
that form individual small cutting edges which
were perpendicular to the blade and thus cut
without the excessive normal pressure required
of a scalloped blade and without the horizontal
force required by positive-raked teeth that
would dig into the bread like a wood saw.
There were also sections of grooves with the
opposite direction of inclination, separated
by a section of smooth blade, and the knife
thus cut cleanly in both directions in both
hard and soft bread.
== Measurement ==
Bread knives are usually between 15 and 25
cm (6 and 10 in).
An offset serrated knife uses an offset handle
to ensure the cook's knuckles will not touch
the cutting surface when the blade has cut
all of the way through the food
