A long time ago I learned the trick of heating the blade of the bread knife when I cut hot bread. (I put the knife's blade along some 'vent' holes behind the burners on my rather old gas range after I take the bread out. It heats up fast. Keep the handle off to the side, though.) The trick was passed in the early 1900s on by a cook in a lumber camp who had to get the bread baked for the men coming back to camp from cutting trees all morning (I read it in a book - I'm not that old!). No way were they going to wait for the bread - baked since the previous meal - to cool before they could satisfy their lumberjack appetites. You can slice right through hot bread without smashing it or making it gummy if the knife blade is hot. And then you can spread it with butter that melts right away or just eat it HOT in all its lovely, yeasty, fresh-from-the-oven deliciousness. I could never keep a loaf whole until it cooled - not at home cooking for 6 men and not now, baking only for myself. Nothing like bread hot from the oven. And with melted cheese? I don't think I could wait until it cooled. Nifty idea, thanks for sharing!

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