SourTube: Sourdough Scoring Patterns and Designs for Beginners (feat. Foodgeek)

📺 SourTube pick: This is a curated video — we didn't make it, we just love it and think you will too. All credit belongs to the creator below. Watch it, learn from it, then go show them some love.

Today's pick: Sourdough Bread SCORING Techniques | Bread Scoring PATTERNS & DESIGNS

Creator: Sune Trudslev of Foodgeek
Watch on YouTube: Sourdough Bread SCORING Techniques | Bread Scoring PATTERNS & DESIGNS
More from Sune: the full scoring guide on foodgeek.io and his Foodgeek YouTube channel

If the embed doesn't load, watch it directly on YouTube here.

Why we picked this one

Here's the dirty secret about scoring: every beginner does it backwards. We obsess over which pretty pattern to draw while knowing absolutely nothing about what the cut is actually for. Then we slash our loaf like we're signing it, slide it into the oven, and watch our gorgeous design seal shut or explode sideways. Ask me how I know. (I have photos. They're not cute.)

Sune from Foodgeek fixes this in the most Sune way possible: he scores TWELVE different patterns — six on round boules, six on oval bâtards — and bakes them all so you can watch, side by side, how each cut opens up in the oven. Nobody else does this. Most scoring tutorials show you the cut and then flash a photo of the finished loaf, and you're left guessing which score did what. Here you see cause and effect, every single time.

The part that changed my scoring forever? He treats every pattern as an engineering problem, not just art. Where the loaf needs to expand, how deep the cut goes, what angle makes an ear pop versus a cut that just opens evenly — once you understand that one deep expansion cut does the work and the decoration just breaks the surface, scoring stops being scary. You stop copying patterns and start choosing them.

And if you're the type who wants to practice before risking a real loaf (hi, that's me), his site has printable templates you can trace with a marker until your hand learns the motions. Muscle memory before dough. Brilliant.

What you'll learn

• Twelve real scores, baked and compared: the cross, diamond crosshatch, windowpane, leaf cuts, the spiral, saucisson scores, the French cut, and how to land that coveted ear — six patterns for boules and six for bâtards, each shown cut and then opened up in the oven.
• Scoring is expansion control, not just decoration: where you cut and how deep you go decides where the loaf springs open — get this right and your bread bursts along your pattern instead of blowing out the bottom seam.
• The angle and depth rules: one deeper expansion score at a shallow angle for oven spring, shallow decorative cuts for looks, and why a straight-down blade opens evenly while a tilted one lifts an ear.

Our two cents to go with it

Two beginner things worth knowing before you hit play:

1. Score cold dough, straight from the fridge. Sune covers this and it deserves a spotlight: a chilled loaf is firm, so the blade glides instead of dragging and tearing. Scoring a warm, wobbly loaf is like trying to slice jelly — technically possible, spiritually crushing. Cold dough is your cheat code.

2. Start with the cross and retire the pressure. The simplest scores are genuinely the most reliable — a confident cross beats a hesitant wheat stalk every time. Get one clean, even cross blooming nicely and then start leveling up to crosshatches and spirals. Nobody's first scored loaf needs to be gallery art; it needs to open.

If watching this gets you itching to bake but your starter has been sitting in the fridge so long it needs a name tag and a welcome-back party — that's literally why we dehydrate ours and ship it ready to wake up fast. No feeding drama, just baking. Squirrelly Girl Starter is here when you need it. 🐿️

Loved this video? Go tell Sune — like and subscribe on YouTube so he keeps making them.

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