In my humble amateurish view it’s all about practice find a lame or a knife that suits you and that you have confidence in. While you do have to be fairly quick, rushing doesn’t get you anywhere. In the flurry and the stress of dealing with hot ovens and collapsing dough it’s all too easy to rush at this part. That’s when taking photos really comes in handy and is one of the main reasons why I take bread photos. The home baker makes a handful of loaves – if that – in one go, so remembering from bake to bake what you did the time before can be tricky. You don’t expect to be able to drive a car the first time you get in one and this is no different. The three magic words are, practice, steam and a sharp blade and the key one is practice.Ī professional baker will slash dozens of loaves a day, she/he will learn how the dough feels, the rhythm and speed of the cuts, the pattern and the angle of the blade, and can practice over and over, and eventually it will feel like second nature. However, having been down that route myself, trying different lames, knives, blades, holders and so on for a few years now I can safely say that, the knife in itself won’t work the magic. One of the most common questions that people ask when they make their own bread is how to get those lovely patterns on the top of the loaves and whether a special lame (blade) will magically transform their loaf into an artisanal artefact. L is for … lames (pronounced like lamb or la-muh) *

Bread lame 3d print