Scoring Dough to Create a Pattern

[Shel_B]

Not sure if the subject line really reflects the situation and my question.

 

Sweetie made a couple of loaves of soda bread the other day, and cut the top of the loaf in order to make a pattern something like THIS.  However, the pattern or cut mark didn't show on the finished loaf.  I don't know much more other than she said she made the cut "pretty deep."

 

What might be the cause of the cut mark not showing on the finished loaf?  Thanks!

[Smithy]

When you show the pattern she was trying to make, are you referring to the white spiral, or to the straight but ragged-lipped slash across the top?  The spiral wasn't made by cutting. The straight slash was.

[Shel_B]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

When you show the pattern she was trying to make, are you referring to the white spiral, or to the straight but ragged-lipped slash across the top?  The spiral wasn't made by cutting. The straight slash was.

 

The slash ... thanks!

[Lisa Shock]

The slash should be cut at an approximately 30° angle, just before baking, in order to form a good 'ear'. Hers may have disappeared because the loaf was not proofed enough, the cut was not angled enough or deep enough. HERE's a good page about the topic, showing the results of different slashes.

 

BTW, the white stripes are rice flour added at the last minute, it does not brown.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Lisa Shock (log)

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, Lisa Shock said:

The slash should be cut at an approximately 30° angle, just before baking, in order to form a good 'ear'. Hers may have disappeared because the loaf was not proofed enough, the cut was not angled enough or deep enough. HERE's a good page about the topic, showing the results of different slashes.

Hmmm.  But this was soda bread.  I have a hard time understanding how it would work with soda bread. But I'm open to an explanation.

[pastrygirl]

5 hours ago, Anna N said:

Hmmm.  But this was soda bread.  I have a hard time understanding how it would work with soda bread. But I'm open to an explanation.

 

Yeah, I was thinking soda bread doesn't rise as much as a yeast bread, and you don't get that same oven spring from the yeast getting all excited.

[Lisa Shock]

Sorry, I got lost in the pictures and replies. Honestly, soda bread doesn't have the gluten development to support an ear.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I am used to Irish soda bread that is scored in a cross pattern to keep it from ripping and allow the highest rise. Here are examples from Serious Eats, Betty Crocker and Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread that depict the bread holding evidence of being scored.

 

Perhaps if the bread were scored too early or was over-hydrated, the pattern would disappear? Since you want to pop it into the oven as soon and mixing and panning are done, I can't imagine scoring too early being the problem. I can't explain it, but one of the pics on the Serious Eats site seems to have lost most of the evidence of the scoring? Hmm? 

[Shel_B]

I'd like to thank everyone for their input.  I know that my sweetie has learned a few things ... I'm looking forward to her next batch of soda breat, which, scored or not, is very satisfying.

[Lisa Shock]

7 hours ago, Shel_B said:

I'd like to thank everyone for their input.  I know that my sweetie has learned a few things ... I'm looking forward to her next batch of soda breat, which, scored or not, is very satisfying.

 

Hopefully she understands that the photo you linked to is not a picture of soda bread. Soda bread is a quick bread and those act VERY differently from yeast breads. She's trying to get an apple to become an orange.

[andiesenji]

I've been making soda bread almost my entire life.

I knead it a bit, the same way I do my scone dough - not too much or it will get tough.

 

I form it into a round, slap it onto a baking sheet  and cut straight down first one way, then the other all the way to the pan - so it is in 4 quarters but still together.  I use a bench knife.

It looks like this.  Usually like the one on the left but sometimes like the one on the right.  

I've never seen it done any differently.  

Edited March 31, 2017 by andiesenji (log)