The one weird trick that fixed my baguette scoring overnight

I was scrolling through a King Arthur Baking blog post last Tuesday and found out that the angle of your lame matters way more than I thought. Turns out holding it at a 30 degree angle instead of flat makes the dough open up like a flower instead of just sitting there. Has anyone else found random blog posts that totally change how you shape your loaves?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_hayden4d ago

Huh, I gotta call something out here. @lane.eric mentioned "mileage may vary" and I think that's actually underselling how much the lame angle changes things. So here's my question for you and nancygrant - have you noticed if the 30 degree thing works differently with high hydration doughs versus stiffer ones? Because I tried it last week with an 80% hydration dough and it still ripped instead of opening clean. The dough was basically soup though so maybe that's on me. I'm curious if you've tested it with different dough strengths or just your standard recipe.

nancygrant4d ago

Wait, HOLD ON. The angle actually matters that much? I mean, I've been holding my lame basically flat against the dough this whole time, like a total idiot apparently. Maybe that's why my baguettes always look like they're trying to hide from the oven instead of blooming open. That 30 degree thing sounds like one of those little details that makes ALL the difference, you know? Idk, I'm definitely trying this next bake day, that blog post writer must have saved my sanity without even knowing it.

lane.eric4d ago

Tell me about it, I used to slice my dough like I was trying to give it a back rub and wondered why it came out looking like a sad flat tire. Your mileage will definitely vary but I bet this one little change saves your next batch.