Dropped $18 on a cheap bread lame and my sourdough finally stopped looking like a failed science project

Miles Ross · 2026-10-05T22:30:03.531561+00:00

For months my sourdough boules looked like pancakes with a weird balloon on top. I was using a regular kitchen knife to score, which just dragged through the wet dough and sealed itself shut. Then a guy at the farmer's market in Portland told me to just buy a cheap lame for $18. It's basically a plastic stick with a razor blade, nothing fancy. First loaf after that, I got a real ear and the crumb opened up way better. I felt dumb for waiting so long, but also kind of annoyed nobody mentions how much the scoring tool matters when you're learning. The blade angle and the quick shallow cut make all the difference. Has anyone else found that one cheap tool fixed a problem you kept blaming on your starter?

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Dropped $18 on a cheap bread lame and my sourdough finally stopped looking like a failed science project | Baking Fails And Wins - Chatter Central