Scoring the exterior of your homemade bread prior to baking can help you add personal flare to recipes with beautiful designs. To score your sourdough bread, gently make cuts into the dough with a sharp knife after placing the bread in its final position on a baking sheet or parchment paper prior to cooking.
Not only is scoring bread an excellent way to exercise your culinary creativity with customized designs, but it also helps ensure the loaf can expand fully as it bakes. As you score, be sure to cut deep enough to penetrate the crust to help with expansion. Scoring allows you to control where the breaks in the bread will occur during the baking process, giving you the power to choose where you’d like to cut the dough for your design.