Slashing

As well as looking pretty, at one time acting as a baker’s (or dough owner’s, in the case of communal ovens) signature and helping to distinguish between different types of bread baked in the same shape, scoring the dough serves technical functions. One is to control where the dough bursts (splits) during the rapid expansion in the first stage of baking. Encouraging and controlling this burst also leads to a better, less tight, texture of the finished loaf.