Bread Scoring Pattern Calculator

Scoring bread — making deliberate cuts in the dough surface before baking — is both functional and decorative. Done correctly, it controls where and how the bread expands in the oven, producing a dramatic “bloom” or “ear” and preventing random bursting.

Why Scoring Matters

During the first 10–15 minutes of baking (called “oven spring”), bread dough rapidly expands as trapped gas bubbles heat up and CO2 escapes. Without scoring, the crust forms a tight skin that cracks unpredictably. Scoring creates a deliberate weak point so the bread expands beautifully and predictably.

Score Depth

The depth of each score depends on the bread type:

• Sourdough (high hydration, 70–80%): 1.5–2 cm (0.6–0.8 inch). Deeper cuts allow for dramatic ear formation when scored at an angle.
• Standard sandwich loaf: 1 cm (0.4 inch). Shallower, centered single slash.
• Baguette: 0.5–1 cm (0.2–0.4 inch) at a 30–45° angle. Several overlapping cuts, spaced by the length of the loaf divided by one more than the number of cuts.
• Focaccia: Not typically scored, dimpled with fingers instead.
• Enriched dough (brioche, challah): Minimal scoring needed; these doughs bloom less aggressively.

Score Angle

Every angle here is measured against the dough surface, not against vertical. That distinction matters more than it sounds, because the two readings are opposites: a 30° cut is nearly flat, and reading it as 30° from vertical would have you cutting almost straight down and wondering where your ear went.

• 30° (almost flat): Maximizes ear, creates a dramatic flap
• 45°: Moderate ear, good all-purpose choice
• 90° (straight down): No ear, creates a symmetrical opening

Score Spacing

For multiple scores on a batard or baguette, space them evenly and let each one overlap the previous by 20–25%. That overlap is the whole trick. Cuts that merely sit near each other open as separate slits, while overlapping cuts tear into one continuous ridge.

Spacing follows from the count rather than being a fixed number: divide the loaf length by one more than the number of cuts, which leaves a margin at each end. A 55 cm baguette with 7 cuts gives 6.9 cm between them, and each cut runs about 8.6 cm to make the overlap.

This calculator recommends the number of cuts, how long each should be, the depth, the blade angle, and the spacing, from your loaf length, bread type, and dough hydration.

A note on hydration. The calculator moves the depth by about 2 mm either way. Slack, high-hydration dough gets the deeper cut, because its surface is stretchy enough to seal over a timid one and burst somewhere else instead; stiff dough gets less, since it tears readily on its own.

Wet dough is also just harder to cut. An 80% dough grabs the blade and drags where a stiff one slices clean. Twenty minutes in the freezer firms the surface, and it is the single best fix for ugly scores.