– The interior crumb would get squashed and compressed, which would ruin the texture of the bread. – Slices would be uneven, or worse, won’t even resemble slices! – The crust would shed a lot of crumbs and there would be more waste.
– There’ll be less waste overall as there is less shedding. – It will be easier, faster and more efficient to slice the bread. – Less skill is required to cut neat slices. – There’ll be no damage to the texture of the bread.
A bread knife always has serrations along the cutting edge. Serrations are needed to be able to ‘saw’ through the hard, crispy crust and soft interior without too much friction (friction causes crumbs, shedding, tearing).
This type of serrated knife has rounded serrations, without any actual points on the edge. It tends to be more effective for softer breads like challah, and fruits such as kiwis or tomatoes.
This type of knife has sharp points spaced evenly out across the edge. The pointed serrations are well suited to slicing sourdough bread.