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What is the best way, and best knife to use, to minimise crumbs when slicing bread, particularly wholemeal?

Mark Wareing
Ashbourne, Derbyshire, UK

Wholemeal bread can be quite crumbly because the protein structure (formed from gluten) is weakened by the fibre and husk in the wholemeal flour.

This crumbling can be reduced by using wholemeal flour with a high gluten content (so-called strong wholemeal flour) or by including a small amount of very strong white flour or pure, “vital” wheat gluten.

The design of the knife needs to be able to penetrate the relatively hard crust without the bread…