Snowy Scored White Snowflake Country Loaf

Baking bread is such a fun and relaxing project that anyone can do. Experimenting with new methods are always a good addition when making bread, as it adds a newfound and fun challenge to the process, and why not make it festive to the season! Bread scoring art is a relaxing practice that can add a decorative element to any loaf of bread. After watching so many different bread scoring videos on TikTok and Instagram, I decided I wanted to try it for myself. This is the documentation of my second attempt on bread scoring, so I wouldn't exactly say I'm a master at it, but this is my experience as a beginner. I came up with this for a school project in my Foods for Healthy Living class at my high school, Wachusett Regional High School. It is my second year here and I am a sophomore. I never was particularly interested in baking or cooking and really only did it when I had to at home, but thanks to my foods teacher Mr. Stark, I have been able to grow in my cooking and baking skills, and now it is something I enjoy doing for fun! I think that making something from scratch like bread isa skill everyone should learn, or at least experience once in their lives. Not only because it is a good skill to know, but also because it is fun! This is what pushed me to do a bread project for my edible art challenge assignment, and although it has been challenging to get right, here is my best attempt at baking a country loaf of bread with a scored festive snowflake design.

Ingredients
5 cups Bread Flour
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon White Sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
2 1/4 teaspoons active yeast
2 cups warm water

Tools + Materials
Stand Mixer
Used for mixing together ingredients and kneading the dough
Mixer Bowl
Used for storing the dough and for mixing
Dough Hook Attachment
The stand mixer attachment used for baking bread, helps dough form
Razor Blade (something with a handle preferably)
Used to score the bread
Cooking Spray
To prevent sticking when storing the dough
Dutch Oven
Used to bake the bread
Measuring Cups
Measuring ingredients
Butter Knife
Used to make imprints for finding the center of the bread for scoring

First, you want to heat up 2 cups of water for about 1-2 minutes in the microwave until warm. It is important not to have the water too hot or it will kill the yeast, you want it to be just warm enough, sort of like a hot bath. The water should not be able to burn you. While that is heating, mix together 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast in a bowl with the stand mixer. To tell if your instant yeast has activated, your mixture will start to form some bubbles and rise, it won't be too prominent yet, but it should still be somewhat noticeable. It should not be forming dough yet, It should be sort of liquidy and sticky. Then slowly add in the two cups of warm water and mix until it is a smooth mixture. Then let the mixture sit overnight covered with plastic wrap for about 24 hours. It should be bubbly when you take it out of the fridge the following day.

Take your dough base out of the fridge and let it warm up a little. The mixture should have risen and contained air bubbles. After, you want to place the bowl back on the mixer and mix in your olive oil and salt. Then add in the remaining flour at 1/2 a cup at a time. If the mixture becomes too sticky or too floury, feel free to add slight amounts of flour or water to adjust the dough. It should form a silky mass of dough. Take the dough out of the mixer bowl and place it on a floured surface. Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes. Then spray the bowl with your cooking spray and place the dough inside. Then cover the bowl once again and let rise again for 24 hours. The process of having multiple rising periods in bread baking allows for the bread to become airy and fluffy on the inside like good bread should be. The texture of the bread on both inside and outside will be better due to this and the taste will be richer as the flavors had more time to develop within the bread.

Take the bread out of the fridge and let it warm up once again. The dough should have risen to about twice its original size. While it warms, prepare a floured surface, and then place the dough on top of it. Knead the dough and form it into a circle or oval, depending on the shape of your dutch oven. To form a round ball, stretch the dough and form it under itself. Then, sprinkle the loaf with flour and spread evenly with your hand lightly to cover the loaf. If your loaf is dry, spray it with a light mist of water. Let dough rise again slightly and then begin scoring the design. The deeper the cut, the more prevalent it will be. You can have fun with this part! Score the snowflake however you'd like! Keep it simple, or make it complex! After your design is finished, place it in the dutch oven. Then, place the dutch oven in the fridge to let the dough rise and form in the dutch oven. Let it sit for about 24 hours.

Heat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Take the dutch oven out of the fridge and add some water into it (you can eye this up, just don't add too much to the point where your loaf is drowning.) This will assure a nice crust to form on your loaf. Place the dutch oven carefully into your oven and bake for about 30-35 minutes until it is golden brown, then enjoy your beautiful loaf!

I hope you enjoyed the recipe! I enjoyed creating and making it! I'm glad that I was able to try this twice as the first try was not my best. I really want to try bread scoring again as this was such a fun process! This recipe can be used for not only just snowflake designs but any bread design you'd like! I'd love to see your attempts at bread scoring, and I hope your bread looked and tasted fantastic! Although baking bread and bread scoring can be challenging, the end result is well worth it in my opinion, and I hope that it is yours as well.