In the book "The Bread Book [1]" by Linda Collister and Anthony Blake, the first recipe in the book is for a basic half white flour and whole-wheat flour bread. It is baked free-form. One of the last steps says, after you finish shaping the loaf, to slash the dough and then let it rise. I have made this loaf a few times and although it tastes good, I was wondering if anyone knew how slashing it before rising affects it differently than slashing after rising. I was curious, as none of the other recipes in the book say to slash before, but alway after.
-Christina