I do score my bread at an angle, making sure the blade goes under the dough on one side, yet I keep getting double ears. I realize this is a 1st world problem, and in one way it’s even better because of the extra crispy bits on top, but I’d like to figure out how to do the classic ear consistently. I’ve had it before, but I don’t know what I did differently. This started happening after I got a Dutch oven, but it’s not consistent. A single ear is the exception. What I did for this specific loaf:
90% bread flour, 10% rye 70% water 20% starter 2% salt
Autolyse for about 40 minutes (which I never do, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference anyway), mix in salt and starter until smooth, and rest for 30 minutes. 3 sets of folds every 30 minutes. Bulk ferment until 40% rise at 26c. Preshape and shape tight, into banneton with rice flour, do some extra dough stitching and into the fridge for 15 hours at about 4C.
Preheat Dutch oven, take bread out of the fridge, score the bread, carefully lower it into the DO on parchment paper, spritz with water. Bake at 230C for 30 minutes with lid on, 15 minutes at 210C with lid off.
squid_monk
It looks like you’re scoring it dead center. Try to offset it a bit to one side.
Visit our [Ear & Scoring wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/wiki/scoringandears/), look for the food geek pics I’ve linked in there and see which is best for you. They are under the “Scoring” section. The pics show the outcome, and there’s a video linked on how to actually do that score as well. In fact he has 2 videos both linked on that page.
If you’re interested specifically in an ear, there’s one for batards.
Artistic-Traffic-112
Hi. I suspect after you made the slash either you spritzed the cut so it formed a new skin real quick or left it standing to spread and form a new skin before expansion forced a way through the weakness at either side.
7 Comments
I do score my bread at an angle, making sure the blade goes under the dough on one side, yet I keep getting double ears. I realize this is a 1st world problem, and in one way it’s even better because of the extra crispy bits on top, but I’d like to figure out how to do the classic ear consistently. I’ve had it before, but I don’t know what I did differently. This started happening after I got a Dutch oven, but it’s not consistent. A single ear is the exception. What I did for this specific loaf:
90% bread flour, 10% rye
70% water
20% starter
2% salt
Autolyse for about 40 minutes (which I never do, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference anyway), mix in salt and starter until smooth, and rest for 30 minutes. 3 sets of folds every 30 minutes. Bulk ferment until 40% rise at 26c. Preshape and shape tight, into banneton with rice flour, do some extra dough stitching and into the fridge for 15 hours at about 4C.
Preheat Dutch oven, take bread out of the fridge, score the bread, carefully lower it into the DO on parchment paper, spritz with water. Bake at 230C for 30 minutes with lid on, 15 minutes at 210C with lid off.
It looks like you’re scoring it dead center. Try to offset it a bit to one side.
I can’t even get one ear 😂
https://preview.redd.it/5rxitd1hwo0e1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3cc7cd575fca4664e89e99da520c28a881e77fce
Idk I kinda like it
Here’s an [old video of mine](https://youtube.com/shorts/GtWwkRffe3g?si=eB5ZmuxqMZVPy4wT) showing how I score and get an ear in my batards. I like the shape of bread it gives. The ear is incidental.
Visit our [Ear & Scoring wiki page](https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/wiki/scoringandears/), look for the food geek pics I’ve linked in there and see which is best for you. They are under the “Scoring” section. The pics show the outcome, and there’s a video linked on how to actually do that score as well. In fact he has 2 videos both linked on that page.
If you’re interested specifically in an ear, there’s one for batards.
Hi. I suspect after you made the slash either you spritzed the cut so it formed a new skin real quick or left it standing to spread and form a new skin before expansion forced a way through the weakness at either side.
Hope this made sense.