ScoringThe final step before baking. One quick, confident movement that determines how your bread will open in the oven.Why Scoring MattersDuring baking, your bread continues to rise for a little while — this is oven spring. The gas inside the dough expands as it heats up, and the dough needs somewhere to release that pressure.Without a score, the bread will find its own weak spot and burst open, often in a random and less attractive place along the side. By scoring the dough, you give it a deliberate place to open.How to ScoreUse a bread lame or a genuinely sharp blade. A blunt blade is more likely to drag through the dough than cut it cleanly, disturbing the tension you carefully built during shaping.Make one clear cut at an angle of roughly 45 degrees to the surface, rather than cutting straight down.One smooth movement, without hesitation. A cut made in several small, uneven movements is less predictable than one confident stroke.One Cut or a Pattern?One crosswise cut is enough to help the loaf open properly, and it is the most reliable choice while you’re still learning.If you want to get more decorative — leaf patterns, multiple cuts, or a signature design — you can. Just remember that every additional cut creates another place where the dough can open.Too many cuts can weaken the effect of your main score.TimingScore the dough just before it goes into the oven, after taking it out of the refrigerator and turning it out onto your baking paper.Dough straight from the cold proof is firmer and easier to score than dough at room temperature — another good reason not to skip the cold proof.If It Doesn’t Go PerfectlyA crooked score, a cut that isn’t quite deep enough, or a loaf that still bursts open somewhere else — it happens to almost everyone in the beginning.It rarely makes the bread any less delicious. It simply makes its shape a little less predictable.Practice, and above all a genuinely sharp blade, make the biggest difference here.Part of The Baking Process.Continue reading: Baking · Oven Spring · Shaping