Sometimes you’ll see bread with lots of pretty slashes in the crust, or even whole works of art. This isn’t just decorative; it’s important to score your bread. As the yeasts expand in the oven, the increasing amount of gas needs somewhere to go, an escape route. If you didn’t create a pathway with a score, it would blow up from the sides or the bottom of the loaf. So when you’re scoring, you’re dictating where the bread will split or grow. This way, you’re in charge of its beauty.

For breads with a lot of grain on top, I use scissors. I cut 6 to 8 little snips (1 inch / 2 to 3cm deep) through the center of the loaf, holding the scissors nearly flat to the surface of the bread, which gives it a mohawk effect.