The loaf was for breakfast his morning – crumb and tast lovely, so it was the aesthetic. I’d followed your recipe carefully and used a Dutch oven, so I suspect it’s in the shaping – greater tension, and the angle of the cut. Will be doing another loaf tomorrow, so we’ll see! Thank you.

When you score the dough at a shallow angle and the loaf has enough tension and gas, the cut flap lifts upward and curls back as steam pushes it open. The ear is essentially that lifted flap.
The main reasons you’re not getting one
Scoring angle — this is the biggest factor. Most people score straight down (90°), but you need to hold the blade at a very shallow angle, almost parallel to the loaf (around 20–30°). Tilt the lame or razor nearly flat against the surface and slice decisively in one motion.
Scoring depth — too shallow and it won’t open; too deep and the flap collapses. Aim for about ½ inch (1.2 cm).
Surface tension — a slack or under-tensioned dough won’t push the flap up. Make sure your final shaping builds a tight skin on the outside of the loaf.
Proofing level — slightly under-proofed dough tends to produce a better ear than over-proofed, because it still has energy to push upward in the oven. Over-proofed loaves tend to spread rather than spring.
Oven temperature — you need a very hot oven (475–500°F / 245–260°C) with steam in the first 15–20 minutes. A Dutch oven does this perfectly by trapping the steam from the dough itself.
Cold dough — scoring a cold dough (straight from the fridge) tends to give cleaner, more defined ears than scoring room-temperature dough.

Our quick checklist

Use a sharp razor blade or lame (a dull blade drags and deflates)
Score at a 30° shallow angle in one confident, swift stroke
Make sure your shaping created a tight outer skin
Try the Dutch oven if you have not done so yet
Score cold dough straight from the fridge for best results

Once you get the angle right, the ear tends to appear reliably — it’s usually that one change that makes the biggest difference.

Keep baking and practicing and rest assured you are not alone in getting less than impressive ears on loaves. The ear is mostly aesthetic — it’s a visual hallmark that bakers are proud of, but its absence doesn’t mean your bread is inferior. If your bread tastes good and has a crumb you’re happy with, the ear is just the cherry on top!

Enjoy your sourdough baking

Olá Julia,

Muito obrigada por gostar do nosso site e das nossas receitas e por dedicar um tempo para escrever este comentário tão gentil!
Desejo a você muitas horas felizes na cozinha e muitos pães crocantes!

Saudações da Holanda / Greetings from Holland / Groetjes uit Holland

Hello Nicole,
Glad it turned out great. You are right, I shall add a baking time indication which is 32 to 37 minutes per 450 gram boule. We always temper the oven somewhere during the second halve of baking with these boules, when we think the bread has the right color.

Enjoy your sourdough baking

🙏

Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly. That’s really helpful😊
Best wishes to you too for 2026

Hello Debbie,
First of all thank you for your kind words and for using and liking so many of our recipes 💛

As for the transferal when using a baking sheet:
When your bread is ready to bake, invert the proofing basket directly over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and gently let the dough settle. Then score the bread and take it to the oven. Alternatively you can invert the basket on a bread peel, score the loaf and use the peel to bring the bread to the oven. This is especially handy when you want to use a pizza stone on a sheet in the oven (the stone has to warm up with the oven).

Next the Dutch oven: We understand it is tricky to land a bread in the Dutch oven straight from the basket. That is why lots of bakers are using the bread mats or bread slings. It is basically a round or oval shaped silicon type material with two handles. This is as far as we know the original one: wiremonkey.com/produ...e-breadmat
You could also make something yourself, there are lots of video’s at cetera if you google ‘making a bread mat or bread sling’.
You will see it is much easier, first turning the basket out onto the bread mat, so the right side is up and can be scored, then taking the mat to the hot pan and putting it in. Also look at some video’s on how people use these mats.
Hope this helps, otherwise just ask away!

Wishing you many happy baking moments now and in the New Year! 🍾

Hello Joachim,
We humbly accept your compliments 🙂. Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a lovely comment. Due to life and other things that get in the way, we know we do not post one recipe after another. But we do make sure we truly know the recipe works for us and very probably for other bakers.
As for a book, we think it would be the greatest challenge to come up with something that has not been done yet and has added value and a chance of success.

We wish you a wonderful December baking month and lots of crusty loaves!

Ed & Marieke

Hello Jeanette!
We think about 3 times / feeds and it will be almost all rye. But for this recipe, starting out with just 15 grams of your sourdough culture, you really do not need to worry about it being a combination of wheat and rye (if that is why you would want to make a 100% rye starter). It is such a small amount compared to the total.

Hope the recipe is clear. Let us know if you have any questions.

Enjoy your sourdough baking and greetings from the Low Countries 🙂

Marieke & Ed