Question About Shaping
I'm rather new to the bread making, I've only made three loaves so far but I have a question. I do not know what to do after punching down. I'll punch the dough and it sinks in the bowl and then I quickly put it on a floured surface and try to 'shape it' as high and round as I can get it.
I bake the loaves on a pizza stone in the oven so I usually just flour a cutting board and let the dough rise it's last rise, and then transfer. However, my loaves aren't as high as I would like them to be. They aren't flat, but I want them to be a bit 'poofier'. After I punch the dough down, can I knead it again and then shape it? Or will that ruin the 'air bubbles'?
I finished lesson two last night and have wonderful bread. I just finished a PB&J sandwhich I had for lunch and it was quite tasty. I also had some chease toast with it this morning that was wonderful!
Any advice anyone can give me will be much appriciated!
Comments
Si,
It depends on what you want to do with the bread. If you're shaping an artisan loaf and want an open crumb, you won't want to punch down at all. Instead, you'll want to retain as many of those air bubbles as possible. The trick is to firmly create a tight, outer skin while hardly disturbing the interior of the loaf.
If, on the other hand, you're just looking to make a panned sandiwch loaf, here's a link to a video I made.
There are lots of good shaping videos out there. Let me know what type of bread you're making, and I'll probably be able to shoot you a link.
I'm doing both actually. I am using a pizza stone so I like the look of the artisian bread, but I want to be able to make sandwiches with it. All the loaves I've made turn out lower than I would like, since I'm not using a pan. (I would like to not have to use a pan)
I watched a few videos that show shaping and folding. I'm still learning, so.. can I fold while I shape? Would that help it gain some hight? Any videos you can send me would be very helpfull! I'll also spend some time watching yours :) Thank you so much.
You won't want to fold while hsaping, though folding during the bulk rise will help tighten the skin a bit. Pre-shaping, however, helps a lot.
When you're pre-shaping, you either make a rough batard (as I do in the sandwich loaf video) or make a boule. Then wait about 15 minutes, and do the final shaping.
Here's some videos:
Oval loaf (batard) (Floyd Mann) Round loaf (boule) (Fourno Bravo) Baguette (Alas, I know not whom to credit) Hope these help!