Tip ... when slashing bread top.

[achookwoman]

If knife or blade drags when making slashes on bread,  spray the knife with oil.

[cookie1]

Good one Chookie, thank you.

[meganjane]

Great tip! Thank you. I'm always worried that the dough will drop when my knife doesn't cut the slits easily.

[achookwoman]

MJ,  if the bread drops,  it is over proved, or risen too much and will either drop or not rise any more in the oven.

[Thermomixer]

Good tip Chookie.   

[Frozzie]

as far as i know the best thing to slice the top of uncooked bread is something similar to a razor blade...a bakers knife is just that ..a razor blade with a handle.its something about that very thin sharp blade..knives are generally too thick on the blade..that is if your wanting to avoid that dragging when cutting problem 

[achookwoman]

Frozzie, you are correct.   The success of the slash seems to be determined by the texture of the dough.  A wet dough is more difficult to slash than a firm dough.

[andiesenji]

The took bakers use is called a lame  - rhymes with mane. 

They are very thin and very sharp, however a  single-edge razor blade works just as well and is a lot easier to find. 

I have a few lames purchased over the years but I usually use a wicked sharp Finnish fish knife that has a super-thin, very flexible blade that for me is easier to hold.  (Arthritis in my hands.)

[fundj&e]

I cut mine with a pair of scissors dip in flour I cut into the dough nearly all the way through , when baked it pulls apart.

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[Frozzie]

not wanting to sound at all a know it all or offend anyone but france is my home and has been for quite a number of years and lame is just the french word for blade but as alot of the culinary arts, cooking tools and equipment as well as techniques etc come from france they are often french named as most of you know

i also have a bakers blade, lame, whatever you want to call it and its still just a form of razor blade with a handle

its correctly pronounced larme (but spelt lame) liike alarm without the first 'a' for those of you interested in knowing.

that reminds me of my aussie friends coming to france and wanting to see the moet champagne house ..so many people pronounce it moey but its actually callled moët et chandon pronounced mwet e shandon..sorry for sidetracking its just always interesting how different cultures and countries distort facts..kind of like chinese whispers i guess starts off as one thing and ends up something totally different but seems to happen an awful lot!

[andiesenji]

You are correct Frozzie.  I meant to type mann  (also meant to type tool instead of took but it was soon after I awoke so the brain cells and fingers were not yet in sync). 
Some people I have known insist on pronouncing it la-may, which is even further off. 

I think the scissors idea is great.  I use scissors when I cut dough to make "ears" on the loaves to shape it like wheat. 

[Frozzie]

yep andiesenji know that feeling...happens to me more often than i would like to admit 

[cookie1]

Thanks frozzie. My dear brother gave me a bottle of Moet for Christmas and now I can pronounce it correctly. We have always said moey.

[Frozzie]

haha cookie yes now you can and nearly everyone i know in oz calls it moey..do enjoy it cookie..just love champagne but my favourite is pink champagne...mmm mmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

[andiesenji]

I've never been to France but back in the 1970s I took a couple of cooking classes from a chef Gregoire who corrected our pronunciation of various French cooking/table/wine terms.  He seemed to always have a long spoon in his hand and would use it for emphasis, usually accompanied by a "Non, Non, Non!"  while banging it on a counter.  After all these years I can still recall the sound of that spoon on a stainless steel surface.  Extremely emphatic. 

I think the one term that always made us chuckle was when he described how to pronounce bombe - "It must be somewhere between bam and bum, pardon if there are Anglise here.  This bombe hopefully will not explode, except the flavor on the tongue.  Remember, bam, bum, bombe." 
Now, fortunately we have online dictionaries that give us an audible of a word or term.  Ain't progress grand?