Easy Sourdough Christmas Tree Bread Scoring Tutorial
This easy Christmas tree sourdough scoring tutorial will give you a festive bread loaf to brighten up your dinner table and home decor!
I love easy bread scoring because it can turn a simple loaf of sourdough bread into a slice of magic. These Christmas tree scores look impressive but they are incredibly easy to do.
I am using my simple sourdough bread recipe for this bread score, which you can find here. You can also use my same day bread recipe found here.
Both of these recipes use a few simple ingredients: active sourdough starter, flour, water and salt.
Tips
Use a pair of kitchen scissors or very little scissors like these for the “tree branch” cuts.
Cold dough is easier to score, and the pattern won’t spread as much as when it is are at room temperature.
Try this score on a chocolate sourdough boule for an even more impressive result- the dark brown color is a beautiful contrast to the white trees!
Prior to scoring preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut a piece of parchment paper to place your dough on when baking.
Trim the parchment paper so it fits underneath the bread dough and does not wrap up and around the sides (if the paper presses on the dough while cooking it can slightly affect the shape of the bread).
How To Make A Christmas Tree Sourdough Score
This simple score can be incorporated into your daily baking routine. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1 Freeze Dough: After shaping your sourdough bread, freeze for 20-30 minutes.
Step 2 Flour The Dough: Dust the sourdough dough with rice flour or all purpose flour.
Step 3 Deep Scores: Using a sharp razor or lame, create two 1/4 inch deep cuts on your dough in the shape of a cross. Then make two additional diagonal scores across the dough. At this point the score will look like a starfish.
(Try not to go too deep, or the score will spread and break open, as shown above. The design can still turn out, but my goal is to keep my cuts consistent!)
Step 4 Detail Scores: Using kitchen scissors make 4-5 tiny diaganol cuts along the edge of the of the deep cuts. Keep the cuts very small and make sure to leave plenty of room in between the two cuts so that the tree looks nice and thick.
Step 5 Bake: Place the dough in a cold Dutch oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the lid of the Dutch oven and then bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until the top of the bread is lightly golden brown.
I hope you enjoyed this easy sourdough scoring tutorial! I love experimenting with seasonal scores and this bread helped usher in a festive mood at dinner last night.
Get additional sourdough scoring + baking tips here:
