Why score bread

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Hi Joy, Scoring is done after the final proofing just before you take the bread to the oven. However the Wrights Flour just seems so strong and it just keeps expanding and expanding no matter what. A Fan oven is useless. I could never get anything good out of it, it also grows the Bread to one side which is annoying.

If you do it early and then let it rise, it works so much better. If you do it just before, your bread just dries out and it shrinks instead of rises. If you put the bread in the oven without letting it rise, you just end up with a flat bread. Those Tins with lids on work amazingly for Fan Ovens, they keep the moisture in, but you will end up with a rectangle store like bread. You try it yourself and the results are so different….

Thank you for your insights Grant. Hope our scoring tips are useful to you in creating the right weak spot in your loaf so it tears where you want it. No grant you need to do some more R and D. For those of you reading this do not loose heart. The only ingredients you need are flour, water, salt and yeast or a natural levean. No oil, milk or butter and nothing added to the flour. What is most important is developing good dough strength and elasticity, and properly fermenting your dough.

Of it is over proofed it will be a mess. You can definitely make great free for artisan bread in a home fan oven. Using a combo cooker or Dutch oven is the best but a good thick baking stone and a tray full of lava rocks and water will work great too. If using a baking stone turn fan off if possible. Not before the final rise. The persons skill is what makes good bread even more than the ingredients and equipment. Preshaping and shaping should be done with a confident but gentle hand.

Practice practice practice. Hello Ann, Thank you. We do ship these lames all over the world also to Malaysia, at lowest possible shipping costs. You can check them out here: www. I had the same problem when I started baking and found that the problem came from overproofing. The bread had simply been proofing to long and I had to go back and read, read and read.

Find the right temperature for proofing, autolyse time and make sure I was not letting it sit to long, if I had to let it rest just got really overworked during the kneading process. Stretch and fold and time in between for wet dough and so much more.

I never imagined the amount of things I had to take into account. Anyway, once I did, I never had another collapse at scoring. Good luck. Hi Lauren, Thank you very much for your helpful addition to this posting.

You are right, it is a complex of things to take into account and lots of skills to make your own when learning to bake, but it is always worth it we think!

But when baking the bread, it often tears at one side. What can I do about this? Can this be because of my small oven and using hot-air, so that the top of the bread is baked to quick?

Hi Alexander, Heat air is certainly not ideal when wanting to create big ears. You need to create lots of steam to try and keep the crust form drying out in the first minutes of the baking process, this is the only way the bread can expand.

And it is not really possible to leave out a starter and still have a good working recipe, the balance would not be right, so you should change to recipes without starters and use them. If you forgot, we would suggest to just bake the next day. When should I do scoring? I have used a steamy oven as well as oiled loaf top. Should I score seconds before putting the loaf in, or score and wait, say, 20 minutes? The slats look so nice, and I want my loaves to be taller!

Hi Jeanne, You should score indeed immediately before the bread goes into the oven. Do not wait. The angle and depth are very important so you really create the weakest spot in the bread were it will open. Start with one big score over the total length of the bread and really cut from side to side so you have the most chance for the loaf to open. Use enough steam, you really need lots of steam and it needs to stay in the oven during the first crucial minutes of the baking process.

We were a bit behind because we had to move house recently, but we just posted another recipe seasonal pumpkin buns and there will be more now we can focus on the baking again! Thank you so much and happy baking! Hi JR, we use our own bread scorer which we sell in our shop which works very well for us. It is a holder for sharp double edge razor blades which you can replace.

See; www. The kind you use for cutting paper and cardboard. Thanks Paul for your suggestion! Let us know when you make the transition and you remove the wheels! The problem I have is that the bread deflates when I score it.

What am I doing wrong? Deflating can very well be a sign of over-proofing so check your dough regularly finger poking test to see if it is ready for the oven. You can find helpful tips here: www. As far as we know a bloomer is a straight dough recipe with a lower hydration dough. This, in combination with flour and techniques used, can make it virtually impossible for your loaf to get ears.

There are certain types of bread that develop ears more easily than others. Finally it is very important to create enough steam in your oven for that all important oven spring to happen. The dough was sticky even after being in the fridge over night. I still baked it. Any suggestions as to why it was so sticky? Hi Tammy, Did you use my recipe for sourdough? That would help me understand what might have gone wrong. Feel free to email me at heather leavenly.

Hey Tammy, sticky dough after the bulk rise means your bulk rise was too long or the sourdough was too strong! Make sure you dont put too much starter on the dough, and also make sure to put the correct ammount of salt. So what happened to your dough, exactly? Well, the starter feasted on your dough and kind of finished doing it… so it becomes all sticky and it wont rise very well when you bake it.

Love these ideas! What kind of flour do you use for dusting? Hi Lauren! Hi Charmaine! Hope this is helpful! Heather, thanks so much for all this information!

My question is about your scoring technique with the x at the top and secondary wheat stalks. Is there any way to score wheat stalks right to the top of the boule without getting a burst out the baked top? Every time I have tried to do this I end up losing some of my stalk pattern.

You could try scoring an ear as your primary score and then the wheat stalks should be unaffected at the top! Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Resources Sourdough. Scoring sourdough bread is a popular topic because the possibilities with scoring are endless.

Scores can be simple and straightforward, or intricately complicated. Bakers tend to prefer one way or the other, simply based on their own preference and experience. Facebook Pinterest Email Print. You may also like.