The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hello from Kansas City (and scoring question).

Kid_A's picture
Kid_A

Hello from Kansas City (and scoring question).

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post here but have been scouring this site for the past few months. Like many have said before, this is a wonderful website with so much information and thanks to all the people that make it possible. I've recently taken up breadmaking and have been reading Hammelman's book (after researching here which one to get). The book is a great resource, but I think the best way to learn is to actually do it. My biggest struggles so far are general handling of the dough (right temperature, kneading, shaping, moving/loading it, etc.) but I think that will get better with time. Scoring bread is also tricky. I've posted a picture below on my recent loaf, it was a Country Bread from the book. I think it was my best bread yet but wonder why the scoring didn't result in a nice bloom. I posted a picture below, if I had to guess I'd say either the incision wasn't deep enough or the oven was too hot. Surely someone here has the answer.

Thanks!!

Postal Grunt's picture
Postal Grunt

Greetings from Leavenworth, KS. Check out the tutorial on scoring. I've found it to be quite lucid and useful. As for the lack of bloom, did you use any mechanism to add steam to the oven during the first 15-20 minutes of baking? There are quite a few posts on that subject archived and available using the search button.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/31887/scoring-bread-updated-tutorial

Sean McFarlane's picture
Sean McFarlane

Bloom is something you get when you angle your cuts, or slightly underproof you bread. Yours apear to have been strait up and down.

Now, from looking at the crumb of the loaf...DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!!!! Your bread looks great!

pmccool's picture
pmccool

And hello from Overland Park, KS.  Glad to have you as part of the community.

That's a very pretty loaf of bread!  You must have put it in the oven just as it was reaching full proof, which would also contribute to the limited expansion at the slashes.  Like Sean said, it does look great, so no worries.

Paul

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

That crumb and crust speak volumes about a perfect loaf of bread.  Nice baking and welcome.  Grew up in Raytown.