How do you score your bread?

Hello all.

This is my first post since discovering this website a couple of months ago.

I was just wondering what all you bread-bakers out there use to score your bread with. I use a lame that I got from King Arthur. It works OK, but not as well as I had expected it to. I previously always used a sharp knife, which didn't work out all that well. Unfortunately, the lame doesn't seem to be all that much better. Wondering if I'm doing something wrong, or if there's a better method.

Thanks,
Jan

This is what I use:

http://breadtopia.com/store/bread-lame.html

Make up an extra batch of dough and practice. It took me a while to get the hang of it.

I use a sharp long slicing knife.

I usually use a single edge razor blade, sometimes a knife. I've had problems using a lame effectively too.

If you have a Cuisinart, use the steel blade. Lethal sharpness, and the center spindle makes it easy to wield. Works like a champ!

I use a supremely sharp knife, fairly short blade... it's pretty much the only thing I do with that blade... score bread... Frank, il maestro di Western Avenue at the old ISB, used something similar and I just followed his lead...

Antonius

sundevilpeg wrote:If you have a Cuisinart, use the steel blade. Lethal sharpness, and the center spindle makes it easy to wield. Works like a champ!

Never thought of that! I'll give it a shot when I make bread sometime this week.

And thanks for all of the help, everyone.

I use a single-edge razor blade. They're cheap and can be replaced often.

I use the blades and blade holder from the San Francisco Baking Institute:
http://www.sfbi.com/baking_supplies.html

I've NEVER been able to master the razor blade or the long / thin knife approach to scoring my bread. My mom told me her trick, to take the kitchen scissors and simply snip the top. You basically position the sharp edge of the scissors straight down into the rising loaf and snip, snip in an x pattern. Works like a charm and so much less stressful than dragging your knife across the top of the loaf and having it not really score. Try it, you'll like it!

Just wondering if how one shapes the loaf has something to do with scoring being easy or hard for some?

I try and make a pretty tight "skin" on my dough by pulling the dough toward the bottom of the loaf so the surface is
smooth and tight as it rests for about 15 min before I cook the loaf. Moment before baking, I score the top of the loaf with my
11" slicer and put it in the oven.

Just wondering if how one shapes the loaf has something to do with scoring being easy or hard for some?

It may also have to do with over-proofing. I know I am prone to over-proof my loaves, which makes it harder to get a good score.

sundevilpeg wrote:If you have a Cuisinart, use the steel blade. Lethal sharpness, and the center spindle makes it easy to wield. Works like a champ!

I've tried every method described except this one. So I was baking some Tartine bread today and decided to give the Cuisinart blade a try. For me it was more awkward than my trusty lame and I found it hard to place the slash at the exact angle and depth I prefer, but when the loaf came out of the oven, it had the prettiest lip I've ever seen. Definitely want to try this again. Always learning great new stuff here. Thanks.

Thanks for the kind words, Bill! It does take a couple of times to get comfortable with it, but once you get used to just flicking your wrist a couple-three times to perfectly score a loaf in seconds, it's hard to go back to using a knife. (plus it's kind of fun to turn a component of an electrical appliance into an efficient hand tool!)

i too use the razor blade, but really only the corner. i would think a lame is a better tool but quite similar. i have also found that if i am not satisfied with the cut made i can sort of edit it; ie make it deeper or longer
my line of thinking is that a loaf must be wildly over-proofed for there to be an effect on the scoring ie the bubbles were so big that when you dragged your blade across they deflate. this likely would also happen if you merely handled the loaf as well.
i guess tho depending on how you cover them there can be quite a skin if covered with linen versus plastic wrap but i usually proof my loaves upside down

today's loaf

sundevilpeg wrote:If you have a Cuisinart, use the steel blade. Lethal sharpness, and the center spindle makes it easy to wield. Works like a champ!

Thank you for this tip, I tried it and it works great!!!
Cheers, Jen

I generally score it on a 10-point scale, hee-hee.

Actually, I have always used this 5" 'tomato knife':



which, for some reason, is exceptionally sharp. I guess since it's a tomato knife it's designed to be that way, but still, it has always held a phenomenal edge and has never, ever failed me. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was designed for this precise task.

Gypsy Boy wrote:I generally score it on a 10-point scale, hee-hee.

Actually, I have always used this 5" 'tomato knife'...

I have the same knife-- it is superb for cheese too. I used to score bread with that knife until I tried the food processor blade!

Cheers, Jen