I thought scoring my sourdough was just for looks until I tried the 45 degree angle thing

Tyler Bell · 2026-10-01T02:55:05.198014+00:00

For about two years I cut my loaves straight down the middle, one deep slash, and called it good. Then a guy named Ray who runs a small bakery over in Boise showed me his method: hold the blade at a 45 degree angle and do one long slash down the side, not the top. I figured it was just for looks, you know, fancy ears and all that. First loaf I tried it on, a 78 percent hydration country white, that thing shot up almost 2 inches higher than my normal bake and the crumb was way more open. Same recipe, same starter, same oven temp at 475, only thing that changed was the angle and where I cut. Turns out I had been deflating the middle of the dough every single time by cutting straight down through the center. Now I do one angled slash and leave it alone, and my rise has been way more consistent for the past few months. Anyone else change up their scoring and get a surprise like that, or am I just late to the party here?

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I thought scoring my sourdough was just for looks until I tried the 45 degree angle thing | Bakers - Talk Freely