June 29, 2017 - 7:20am
scoring issues
just a quick question; are you better off scoring rye breads and breads with alot of seeds, nuts, wholegrains with a straight blade as you wont get an ear as you would with a curved blade on a white baguette, batard, etc.
The reason i ask is that the last three breads ive made - a carrot, sesame bread and mixed grain, a porridge and mixed seed bread and a rye, carrot and pumpkin seed bread - dont rise that much and when ive scored them with a curved blade im not getting the same rise nor ear that ive been getting off my pain rustiques....am i best off just cutting some diagonal scores across the top or a single one down the middle...any advice, pointers etc gratefully appreciated. Basically will i treat them like i do my boules....
thanks
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You won't get the same effect with scoring. I never score 100% rye breads. I wait till a few holes start appearing on top (not too many as it'll over proof just a few) then bake. Comes out the oven just right. Docking is done with Rye instead of scoring as the low gluten doesn't support scoring. Docking is taking a tooth pick (or the like) and poking holes in the dough. Serves the same purpose.
thanks Lechem. Its only 30% rye but it has 35% carrot and 21% pumpkin seeds in it as well....so i figure not much rising is going to go on with such a weight, moisture and low gluten flour....
is that a single, straight cut down the middle, fairly deep (at least 1/4", and better 1/3" or even 1/2"). and pretty much perpendicular (well, as close as I can freehand) gives me the best result with a high-hydration dough including a porridge, especially if I'm using a tin. While I don't get a ton of oven-spring with these breads, there is enough that a deep central score will do more than the horizontal or diagonal scores to prevent the tearing of the sides of the loaf as it bakes (this one had multiple diagonal scores):
I still score up to 70% rye loaves (since I get enough spring from that bit of wheat to need it), but I follow Lechem's lead and just dock the 100% ryes.
I haven't used a lot of nuts as add-ins, so don't doubt that they minimize lift in both proof and bake, but am a bit surprised that you don't get a good spring from the carrot addition. Carrots add a huge amount of sugars to the mix, and I would expect a similar massive spring from them that I get from using bananas with a 40% rye. Interesting that you aren't getting that (it's still on my list to try the rye/carrot/sourdough thing - just haven't got to it yet!).
My personal thing is that I can't seem to get enough tension on high hydration doughs, or doughs with a lot of adders, for the skin to be thick enough and strong enough for an angled score with a curved blade to actually open up. Maybe I'll try it again as my dough handling skills improve, but for now I'm finding the single, vertical central score is giving the best results.
Happy baking!