How to Score Dough

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Scoring bread is an art form as much as making the bread itself. Its fun to experiment with all of these forms.

Excellent information and the table showing different designs is extremely helpful, thank you so much for putting it all togethe!

Thanks for this great post. I’m inspired to try harder when scoring! As I prepare to bake a sesame-covered bread this weekend, I’d love more details on how to do the scissor cut you recommend.

I try this with my boules of sourdough. However, the surface is stiff from hours of contact with the flour coating I put in the basket, and the pressure it takes to cut through that often collapses the loaf. I do tend to make the dough on the moist side, so that’s part of the problem. Any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks.

@Gary2201 I agree; scoring is another realm of learning and fun.

@maryjobo You’re welcome. The amazing @denyce_rusch designed those tables of score patterns.

@chasmeister That’s interesting. My dough “skin” doesn’t usually dry out so much that it’s difficult to cut through. Are you using a sharp razor?

@Arlo48 You should be fine scoring a sesame seed coated crust, but experimenting with scissors could be fun too. I usually make a line of triangle cuts along an imaginary line where I might have scored. Here is an example

But if you want to be extra advanced, try this :slight_smile:

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So the reason scoring in patterns began is that villages used to share one oven. People would score their bread differently so that they could recognize it. It’s a kind of monogram. Thought this would be cool for people to know.

That’s right! I’d forgotten about that and it’s such a cool fact.

Now I know why I had a problem with rupture of the crust for years!
Thanks a lot for this information.

If you have the lame is sitting in a glass of cold ice water before you use it, the score will be cleaner and quicker through the loaf. Happy scoring from New Zealand :slight_smile:

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That’s a good tip. I will try it. I usually use a little flour on the loaf or oil on the lame, but that does not always give me a clean cut.

I usually do a simple cut, sometimes with some additional shallow cuts.

@pgruental you’re welcome

@Neville_Chun Thanks for the tip, I’ll try that next bake

@kingfisher500 nice looking breads

I enjoyed the article and it was great to have so many scoring patterns in one place to try.

I appreciate the effort involved in putting it all together.

Yes, I wet my blade before every cut. Makes it much easier.

Does anyone have suggestions on how best to score a round loaf that has stenciling on it?

Where do you score and where is best place to stencil? (. I have a few Breadtopia stencils)

Many thanks

I think it’s easiest to do full cut around the stencil like in the photo below.

You can also do a very deep slash on one side which will make for a stenciling “canvas” on the other side. This example isn’t round but it would work okay on a round loaf.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4fQUHQJpnx/?igshid=xubgrukt4kud

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Thanks Melissa for such a quick response

I will try the cut around

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A friend sent me a link to the exquisitely scored breads and artistically covered flat breads of a remarkable North Carolina baker. Here’s a link and a sample photo: https://www.boredpanda.com/carved-blondie-and-rye-bread/

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I use an 85% hydration dough that is 1/3 whole wheat and 2/3 unbleached white. When I try to score, the marks burst all across the loaf instead of creating a design. I’m using a very sharp boning knife and my cuts are about 1/4" deep. What am I doing wrong?

I had wondered how and when to score bread being that it went from the baton to a hot Romertopf that had been heating in the oven. Never did I think of turning it out onto parchment paper first and then putting it all in the Romertopf. DUH! Thanks much for the info.