The 5 minute score is a method used to help your loaf expand more and achieve an ear.

To do a 5 minute score, give your loaf an initial score before placing in the oven, then score it a second time along the same initial score line before continuing to bake as normal.

The 5 minute score can also be called a 7 minute score, etc. depending on how many minutes elapse before giving the second score. It can also be called simply the second score, but 5 minute score is probably the most common name.

Something about the second scoring often gives loaves the oomph they need to achieve the ever-coveted ear. If you’ve been trying to get an ear without much success, this is a popular method to try.

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Using the 5 Minute Score to Get an Ear

In order to achieve an ear on your loaf of sourdough bread, a few basic things need to be in place. If other steps in your sourdough bread making process are too far off, even the 5 minute score won’t help you with an ear. The 5 minute method works best for those who are making mostly successful loaves, but just can’t quite seem to get an ear.

There is absolutely no harm in trying the 5 minute score, but if you still don’t end up with an ear, then something else will probably need to be tweaked in your sourdough bread making process.

Check Starter

Ensure that your starter is well established and healthy. It should be doubling or tripling within 6-8 hours after feeding, give or take a couple hours depending on room temperature and feeding ratio.

Check Bulk Ferment

Watch your bulk ferment time. Bulk ferment starts the moment the starter or levain hits the other dough ingredients. If you bulk ferment too long, your dough will overproof and won’t have the oven spring needed to produce an ear. Similarly, if bulk ferment isn’t long enough, the dough might not be able to produce an ear.

This chart from The Sourdough Journey is very, very helpful in nailing down bulk ferment times.

Check Final Proof

Watch the proofing. Once dough is in its final shape for proofing, don’t let it rise too much, whether you’re doing a cold retard or making dough and baking all in one day. Check your refrigerator temperature to make sure it’s not too warm and accidentally allowing your loaves to overproof.

Check Shaping

Check your shaping technique. If loaves aren’t shaped tightly with proper surface tension, they are more likely to spread. A flatter loaf will have a harder time springing up and getting an ear.

Check Scoring

Re-evaluate your scoring technique.

Try keeping the principal score in the middle plane of the loaf
Use a stick lame with a curved blade (blade curving up like a spoon)
Slice at a 45° angle to the loaf’s surface.
Keep slices shallow, especially if utilizing the 5 minute score. 1/2” is the deepest you should need to go. Any deeper than that and you risk the structure of the loaf and encourage excessive spreading.
Keep scoring swift and sure, as much as possible.
Make sure you have a clean and sharp razor blade on your lame. Some bakers change out their blades as often as every 10 loaves or so. While changing your blade frequently will ensure the cleanest and easiest scoring, changing that often isn’t strictly necessary. But if you make sourdough loaves regularly and it’s been a few months or years, go ahead and change out that razor blade.

The most fun (and frustrating) part about sourdough is there are always 101 things that could go wrong, and just when you think you’ve dealt with all the troubleshooting, something new happens. That said, the tips above are some of the most common culprits, and a good place to start.

Sourdough Loaves Baked Side-by-Side, With and Without the 5 Minute Score

5 minute score (L) and no 5 minute score (R)

top view of 5 minute score (L) and no 5 minute score (R)

I remember the first ear I ever got on a loaf of sourdough bread baked in my home environment. I may have jumped for joy. Then squeals of joy as my loaves continued to get ears. Then I got some new oval bannetons and I was not getting ears every time. I read about the 5 minute score and decided to try it. The results were fabulous. Consistent, impressive ears, every time.

To confirm, I baked two loaves side by side, one with and one without the 5 minute score. The loaf that got the 5 minute score developed a nice ear, while the loaf that had no second score did not develop an ear.

Thus, the 5 minute score became an essential step in my baking process. After playing around with timing, I found the 6 minute score to be the sweet spot for my loaves.

I didn’t look back for months, but also wondered why some bakers could easily get consistent ears without using a second score, while others turning out beautiful loaves also relied on the 5 minute score. Just another sourdough mystery, or is there more to it?

A Second Side by Side Experiment

No 5 minute score (L) and with 5 minute score (R)

More recently, I decided to perform another little side by side experiment with the 5 minute score.

This time I came away with a different conclusion. I liked the overall look of the loaf that did not get the 5 minute score. They were both nice looking loaves, but the loaf that got the second score seemed to spread a bit more, and almost got less of an ear, ironically.

Now, these two loaves are identical in every way except one: one has chunks of Parmesan cheese, and the other does not. Inclusions can weigh bread down and affect the bake certainly, but given that I bake frequently with inclusions and was consistently doing the 5 minute score, I don’t think this had too much of an impact on the results. After all, the more important loaf was the one that did NOT get the second score. I know well from the many loaves I have baked that the second score works a treat. I was more interested to see if I could go back to baking without having to use the 5 minute score and still achieve an ear.

Why the difference in conclusion for the two experiments?

I can only guess why these two mini experiments went the way they did. However, after some reading, I would guess that the 5 minute score helps most when the bulk ferment time isn’t spot on or there are problems with steam during baking. Since the steam and baking has been basically the same since I started, I suspect I have just been able to fine tune bulk fermentation a bit better, ever learning more my dough in my environment.

Conclusion:

The 5 minute score is a handy tool to have in the sourdough arsenal. It allows more leeway in being able to achieve an ear without having to have every single step in sourdough making, especially bulk ferment, nailed down perfectly.

In an ideal world we could all just bake sourdough bread and get an ear every time, if we wanted to. Since that doesn’t always happen, I will continue to sing the 5 minute score’s praises to achieve that sometimes elusive ear.

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