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The Best Scoring Tool for Artisan Bread

I bake the best baguettes in town at El Fidel Restaurant in Las Vegas, NM.

They are the best in part because I use a high-hydration dough, which gives them super oven spring, and a wonderful, chewy, gelatinous crumb with lots of big holes.

The downside of a high-hydration dough, though, is that it is difficult to work with and nearly impossible to score. It is, forgive the indelicacy, like trying to score a wet snot.

I had been using a baker's lame for this. The lame is basically a razor blade on a stick. I was dipping the blade in water before every cut and STILL had a devil of a time, as the dough would stick, hang up on the blade, and the cuts were very shallow even when I used the best technique.

But then I saw in an online bread forum the mention of the ultimate bread-scoring tool. It is a Pure Komachi II tomato knife. Serrated razor-sharp blade, non-stick coating, comes with its own little plastic sheath and costs less than six bux.

I have used the knife twice now for scoring baguettes, and it is a massive improvement over the lame. My cuts are deeper, I don't need to dip in water, and the dough never sticks on the blade.

This knife is my new favorite thing! If you need a dynamite bread scoring tool, you won't regret buying this. You can click Pure Komachi 2 Series Tomato/Cheese Knife to order.

Location: United States

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