Best thing since...

[Spectrum]

That looks really good - designed to cut thicker things like bread rather than just slicing meat.

Just used for bread, the only thing it could do with is a scale ie numbered on the width adjustment knob, so you can make your toast the same thickness every time, I found our ideal thickness and just marked the back in permanent ink, so easy to set each time, obviously different thicknesses of bread will toast at different times.

[Liz]

Hmm, a bread slicer - never thought of one of those but from what you all say I'll take a look, could be good for my gluten free bread

[DominicBest]

Does anybody listen to the Radio 4 programme that fact checks advertising claims and rumours and old wives’ tales? I think it’s called SB or BS. SB is sliced bread and BS is the waste product of a male cow. They take an in depth look at common claims like this washing up liquid although more expensive works out more economical than a cheap one, this new kitchen gadget will allow you to throw out every other kitchen tool you own or even is it worth spending hundreds of pounds on big name perfumes when clones are available at a fraction of the price. They recently did one on bread. I found it really interesting.

[Hotrodder]

I couldn't find the Bosch one but the Tristar was on Amazon. I bought one, should arrive Thursday. I make the bread here and I'm pretty sound at the slicing but it occasionally goes wrong, usually when I'm near the stump end and fingers are at risk. The Mrs. has a real struggle with it so I was interested in this slicer. Years ago I had one with a hand crank. It was rubbish. The Tristar I hope is worth the gamble. Serrated blade will make all the difference. Also, it folds up for storage, a key point with a small kitchen with limited storage. I will report back after testing.

[L Austin France]

I couldn't find the Bosch one but the Tristar was on Amazon. I bought one, should arrive Thursday. I make the bread here and I'm pretty sound at the slicing but it occasionally goes wrong, usually when I'm near the stump end and fingers are at risk. The Mrs. has a real struggle with it so I was interested in this slicer. Years ago I had one with a hand crank. It was rubbish. The Tristar I hope is worth the gamble. Serrated blade will make all the difference. Also, it folds up for storage, a key point with a small kitchen with limited storage. I will report back after testing.

Good luck!
I've got an Andrew James slicer like the ones mentioned but it still struggles to cut thin slices which is what I bought it for.
It's probably because I like the bread to be open grain with a good rise which holds lots of butter & the machine tends to squash the loaf as it cuts resulting in a mess.
Maybe I should bake the open grain white loaves,which are easily hand sliced thick, just for toast & change the recipe to a more brownish, closer grained type which the machine might slice thin for sarnies.
Worth a try when tidgy sliced supermarket Pain Complet are about €1,50.

[Spectrum]

In the name of research, I decided to see if I could answer ALFs problem, how thin do you want your bread? Have just tried at different widths, the loaf was three days old and the last 30mm, I could slice to 1mm thickness, ie you can see through it as you know bread does vary tremendously so on softer breads it may not cut so thin.

[L Austin France]

In the name of research, I decided to see if I could answer ALFs problem, how thin do you want your bread? Have just tried at different widths, the loaf was three days old and the last 30mm, I could slice to 1mm thickness, ie you can see through it as you know bread does vary tremendously so on softer breads it may not cut so thin.

A slice of supermarket sandwich bread is 12.5mm & thats fine for my sarnies.
It could well be that I've always tried machine slicing bread a few hours after it's come out of the oven & has cooled to room temperature. We've always sliced our loaves before freezing & let 'em defrost before needed.
I've not tried leaving the loaves for a few days before machine slicing but I can see how this could 'firm' it up. A few hours in the freezer before machine slicing certainly helped in this respect as my bread, by design, is soft.

[MAD87]

Mst boulangeries will slice loaves if you ask - if it's too hot, they'll ask you to come back later or warn you to leave it to cool in the bag.
As for hard butter, I usually leave it out of the fridge for an hour or two before using it.

I made all my own bread (by hand) for donkey's years before we came to France, then didn't see the point.

[Hotrodder]

"As for hard butter, I usually leave it out of the fridge for an hour or two before using it."
Oradour must be in a warm part of the country.
Our butter is always kept out of the fridge and can only be spread for about 5 months of the year without a spell in the microwave.

[Spectrum]

In the name of research, I decided to see if I could answer ALFs problem, how thin do you want your bread? Have just tried at different widths, the loaf was three days old and the last 30mm, I could slice to 1mm thickness, ie you can see through it as you know bread does vary tremendously so on softer breads it may not cut so thin.

A slice of supermarket sandwich bread is 12.5mm & thats fine for my sarnies.
It could well be that I've always tried machine slicing bread a few hours after it's come out of the oven & has cooled to room temperature. We've always sliced our loaves before freezing & let 'em defrost before needed.
I've not tried leaving the loaves for a few days before machine slicing but I can see how this could 'firm' it up. A few hours in the freezer before machine slicing certainly helped in this respect as my bread, by design, is soft.

I dont leave it out as such, the bread gets eaten fairly quickly, it was just an experiment with a left over piece, but yes let your bread cool before slicing, even hours old bread will still cut nicely. Hot cross bun time I think done on a dough setting moulded by hand.