My neighbor's kid asked why my bread always looks the same

I was giving a loaf to my neighbor, and her 8 year old daughter pointed at the scoring and said 'it's just lines again.' I've been using the same three patterns for years because they work, but that simple comment made me realize I stopped trying new things. Spent last weekend practicing wheat sheaves and spirals, and it felt like playing again. What's a scoring design you tried that looked harder than it actually was?

3 comments

3 Comments

noah_murray1mo ago

My grandma's old bread book had this checkerboard pattern that looked impossible. It was just a grid of shallow cuts with a razor, maybe a dozen lines total. The way the dough opens up in the oven does all the real work for you. I got a decent result on my second try, and it completely changed how I see scoring now. The best designs are often the simple ones that let the bread itself be the art.

noah9991mo ago

Tried a simple leaf pattern that looked fancy but was just a few quick cuts.

finleyw581mo ago

Honestly, it's just bread. People get so deep about scoring patterns like it's some high art form. A few slashes with a knife and you're done, it's not that serious. The loaf tastes the same whether you cut a leaf or a box. Sometimes I wonder if we're all just trying too hard to make baking into a performance.