Scoring: how I finally got the ear

Every crust reveal on my Instagram gets the same question: how do you get the ear? For three months I couldn't. Here's what actually changed it.

Cold dough, always

I used to score room-temperature dough and watch the blade drag and snag. Dough straight from the fridge after its overnight prove is firm, and the blade glides. If you take nothing else from this post: score cold.

One cut, shallow angle, no hesitation

My early loaves looked like a toddler's drawing of lightning — lots of timid little slashes. The ear comes from one confident cut, about 1cm deep, with the blade held at maybe 30° to the surface, so you're cutting a flap, not a trench. The flap lifts in the oven's steam and becomes the ear.

Steam is half the score

A perfect cut in a dry oven just sets in place. In a preheated Dutch oven with the lid on, the surface stays soft long enough for the cut to open properly. If your oven spring is weak, the problem is usually the pot not being hot enough — give it the full 45 minutes.

Practice note: you get exactly one score per loaf, which is a rubbish practice schedule. Score a proved supermarket pizza dough for repetitions. Nobody has to know.

— Jess