Can anyone suggest why my ear always looks like this please, instead of being a thinner flap. The picture below shows the scoring, which is about 5 mm deep and angled at about 45 degrees. The bread is well proofed. I start the baking in a dutch oven at 240C for 10 minutes then 220C for another 10 minutes. It is 50% wholewheat and 80% hydration. It's not the worst problem to have, but I would prefer something "neater". Thank you.
Another user - name not mentioned - has the opposite. Combine the 2 and see what happens. PS - they are notified. Enjoy
That's some oven bounce!
I'm thinking your slash is really high up on the loaf. Looking at the third picture, before cooking, your slash is at what I'll call 1 o'clock.
I'm thinking if you move the slash further down the loaf. If you move your slash more over to the side, maybe at ~3 o'clock. Not sure if this will yield an "ear" or not.
I usually bake more tapered batards and slash more to the side. But, you want to slash different shape loaves differently to promote the oven spring growth as you want the final loaf shape. E.g. Like how a French bread is slashed. You might try different cuts. Maybe 4 slashes in the same orientation as your current cut. Cut at 9,11, 1 and 3. You won't get an ear, but you would have a pretty loaf with all the bounce you have.
That's really good oven spring and bloom. I'd try a more shallow score. I score my batards down the top centre but no as deep as yours.
Cheers,
Gavin.
For me it looks more like a result of how you shape the loaf. If I look at picture 2 and 3 then I assume, that at the end of the shaping you roll the dough, either with a bit too much flour on the bench/dough or the surface of the dough is a tiny bit dry and you don't close the ends. The "blooming" follows exactly this lines, which are the "weakest" part of the dough.