Ask bread-afilter: is a lame worth the money?

May 2, 2018 7:35 PM

I’ve been baking my own artisan loaves with great results, and have a lot of specialty tools. But I can’t bring myself to spend the money on a dough blade/lame because I don’t know if it will work better than a sharp knife. Any insight?

So I’ve basically been running a small bakery out of my tiny kitchen these past few months. I’ve got a killer sourdough, a fluffy as fuck brioche and a few other of my own recipes I’ve perfected(unabashedly tooting my own horn here).

With this I’ve aquired a decent amount of paraphernalia, most of it worthwhile and some not so much. Which is why I’m hesitant to buy a lame to score loaves without someone who can tell me if it will actually save me time or effort.

As of now I’ve been scoring my loaves with a sharp filleting knife as it’s kinda the best I’ve found so far. It scores nicely but not always evenly (due to user error) so some loaves just ain’t as pretty or evenly risen along the scores.

Does a lame actually cut more evenly with less effort? Enough to special order one for myself?

Bakers of metafilter, I ask for your knowledge!

posted by InkDrinker to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

I have a lame, it's not any better than an old skool box cutter or a sharp chefs knife. if you have bread money burning a hole in your pocket get some bannetons instead.
posted by Dr. Twist at 7:43 PM on May 2, 2018

Best answer: Yes. It will. Whatever you do, don't get a lame with a fixed blade. You want one that you slip a double edge razor blade onto. Some hold the blade straight, which is good for box scores on top of boules. Some hold it with a curve, which helps give you a nice ear on baguettes and batards. I've also had good luck with a birds beak paring knife kept very sharp and used exclusively for scoring bread.
posted by clockwork at 7:43 PM on May 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

Best answer: I've used a lame a couple times, and haven't found it more effective than the $5 xacto that i buy a $3 packet of blades for once a year.
posted by mishafletch at 8:08 PM on May 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

Best answer: You can try for yourself on the cheap
posted by STFUDonnie at 8:08 PM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

I used to work at Subway in hichschool. We scored a lot of bread. The ones we used, that were absolutely adequate for the task at hand for a decently long time (commercial loaf numbers here) were simply single edged razor blades molded into a plastic grip. If you get something like that, or just a bunch of single edge razor blades, you'll be there.
posted by RolandOfEld at 10:23 PM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Hey, just a note that if you go with an x-acto knife or a utility razor, wash the blades well before you use them. They come coated in a protective layer of machine oil (at least razor blades do, dunno about x-acto knives) which is not meant to be ingested.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 4:25 AM on May 3, 2018 [5 favorites]