Cutting a slice

Rosie and I had a conversation recently about slicing bread! This is real nostalgia - I remembered how my aunts would butter the end of a loaf and then cut a slice. I was always fascinated by this technique as a child, but thought nothing more of it as an adult. As sliced bread became readily available in the 1960's, the old ways disappeared. Rosie and other people I know have the same recallection, so its got to be worth an experiment.

Yesterday I baked a good old fashioned loaf, the type you would get from the baker in the 1950's. Today I cut off the end - buttered the top - then cut a slice. It was surprisingly easy to do.

Of couse, cutting bread is an art in itself. Early civilizations did not bother. The Romans baked bread that was pre-segmented and could be broken into pieces. Each piece being a portion for a single meal.

To improve the size and shape of a slice of bread, you could cut a loaf in half and make the cuts across the loaf to give a very square slice, or with round loaves, the cut could be made at 40 degrees to give a much bigger slice.

I am now on a mission to improve the way I cut bread.