My mom told me my bread looked "too perfect" and it messed me up

She said my sourdough looked like a store bought loaf and that it lacked character... I was so mad at first. But then I stopped scoring my loaves so precisely and stopped worrying about the ear being exactly level. Now I just let the dough do its thing and honestly, the crust cracks in better places. Has anyone else had someone's feedback actually improve your baking approach?

2 comments

2 Comments

paul3309d ago

Respectfully disagree big time here. Your mom's comment clearly hit a nerve because you let it make you doubt your own work, and now you're basically lowering your standards to prove a point. There's nothing wrong with perfect looking bread (if that's what you're going for) and letting the dough "do its thing" sounds like an excuse for slacking off on technique. You spent time getting good at scoring and shaping, and now you're just abandoning that progress because one person made a weirdly backhanded compliment. Store bought loaves are literally engineered by professionals to look flawless, that's not an insult. Maybe try sticking with your precise method and seeing if you can make it even better instead of throwing it away because of some arbitrary "character" nonsense.

jason5629d ago

Wait, you're seriously arguing that making bread look more store bought is the actual goal here? I mean, that kinda feels like missing the whole point of why people get into baking at home. The whole appeal for me was that it doesn't look like something from a factory. Like, my first few loaves were lopsided with big ugly scoring marks and honestly that's what made them feel special compared to just buying a baguette. Not saying you can't aim for perfect looking bread or whatever, but calling it "slacking off on technique" because someone wants a little rustic character is wild.