🍞 KneadyMoms
Where Sourdough Meets Real Life

Hey there,

Let’s talk about scoring. That moment right before you slide your loaf into the oven when you take a blade and slash the surface.

It’s not just decorative (though it can be). It’s functional giving your bread a controlled place to expand so it doesn’t blow out randomly in the oven.

In This Week’s Batch:

• Why scoring actually matters

• Community poll

• Easy Golden Focaccia

• The basic cross pattern (works every time)

Reading time: 4 minutes. Scoring time: 5 seconds of decisive action.

✂️ THE KNEADY HACK: The Cross Pattern That Never Fails

Forget the intricate leaf patterns for now. Master this first:

THE BASIC CROSS:

Prep: Dust the top of your loaf lightly with flour. This helps you see your cuts.

Angle: Hold your blade at 45 degrees to the dough surface (not straight up and down).

Depth: Cut about ½ inch deep. Shallow cuts won’t open. Deep cuts deflate the loaf.

Pattern: One swift cut from top to bottom. Rotate 90 degrees. Another swift cut. You’ve made a cross.

Speed: Decisive and quick. Hesitation creates jagged cuts.

What happens in the oven: Your loaf will expand where you scored it, creating an “ear” (that lifted ridge). The rest of the crust will stay intact.

The truth: Your first 20 scores will look rough. Blade control takes practice. But a messy score that’s ½ inch deep is better than a pretty score that’s too shallow.

HELP ME CHOOSE

🍞 RECIPE: Easy Golden Focaccia

Homemade bread shouldn't take all day. This golden focaccia comes together with minimal effort no kneading, no babysitting. Just mix, wait, and bake. Plus, you can cold proof it in the fridge overnight and bake it on your schedule. The dough does the heavy lifting so you don't have to.

🎨 SCORING PATTERNS FOR BEGINNERS

Pattern 1: The Cross (already covered)
Works for: Round loaves
Difficulty: Easiest

Pattern 2: The Single Slash
One long cut at 45° angle from top to bottom
Works for: Batard/oval shapes
Difficulty: Easy
Tip: Angle your blade and cut decisively

Pattern 3: The Hash Mark
Three parallel diagonal cuts across the top
Works for: Round or oval loaves
Difficulty: Medium
Tip: Keep cuts evenly spaced

What NOT to do: Don’t score right after shaping. The dough needs to proof first. Score immediately before baking, while preheating your Dutch oven.

💬 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

Regina T.

The Challenge: Regina's homemade loaves tasted wonderful but the crust was so thick and tough she joked it "needed a chainsaw" to cut into. Her recipe called for preheating a Dutch oven at 500°F for an hour, then baking at 450°F with the lid on for 20 minutes and off for 15.

KneadyMoms Advice: Try the Cold Bake Method

Instead of preheating the Dutch oven to blistering temps, place your dough into a cold Dutch oven and put it into a cold oven before turning it on. The slower, gentler start means the crust doesn't set as aggressively giving you a thinner, softer crust with less risk of burns.

• Dough into cold Dutch oven

• 50 min at 450°F, lid on

• 10 min lid off to brown

The Result: "Not only is my crust much better, but the rise is quite amazingly higher!"

Problem solved on the very first try. 🎉

⚡ QUICK WINS FROM THE COMMUNITY

• Score on a piece of parchment, then lift the whole thing into your Dutch oven less handling (from Barb R)

• Chilling dough briefly before scoring firms up the surface, it makes it easier to get a clean, precise cut. When dough is at room temperature it tends to be soft and sticky, so the blade can drag and snag rather than slicing cleanly. A short stint in the freezer sets the outer layer just enough that your lame or razor glides through smoothly, letting you achieve those beautiful, defined score patterns that open up nicely in the oven. (from Alanna D)

📅 NEXT WEEK PREVIEW

• Why Discard Recipes are Game-Changers

• Sourdough Discard Sandwich Loaf

FINAL RISE

Scoring is equal parts science and art. The science part (depth, angle, timing) you can learn in a few loaves. The art part (pretty patterns, confident strokes) comes with practice.

But even a simple cross on a homemade sourdough loaf? That’s impressive.

Until next Tuesday,

Leah + The KneadyMoms Community

P.S. What’s your biggest scoring challenge right now? Hit reply and tell me I want to troubleshoot with you.