Bread technique: mixing, folding, shaping and scoring

Technique guides

In bake order, from the first mix to the score. For timing, the timeline planner lays out the day; for fermentation, see bulk fermentation.

• Autolyse and fermentolyseRest flour and water before the starter and salt.
• Kneading and slap and foldBuild strength by hand, wet dough or dry.
• Stretch and fold vs coil foldStrength during bulk, without kneading.
• PreshapingRound the dough and rest it before the final shape.
• Shaping a bouleA tight round loaf, step by step.
• Shaping a bâtardThe oval loaf, folded and rolled.
• Shaping baguettesSized for a home oven.
• Shaping a pan loafA log that fills the pan evenly.
• Shaping rollsEven, tight rolls with a cupped hand.
• Cold proofingOvernight in the fridge, and how long is too long.
• Steam in a home ovenEvery method, and what each one does.
• How to score breadAngle, depth and patterns, with the motion.
• Tangzhong and yudaneSoft, long-keeping bread from a cooked paste.

The order of a sourdough day

The timeline planner turns these into clock times for your day.

1. Mix flour and water (and rest it: autolyse).
2. Add starter and salt; build strength by kneading or folds.
3. Bulk ferment with stretch and folds in the first two hours.
4. Divide and preshape; rest 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Shape: boule, bâtard, pan loaf.
6. Proof, often overnight in the fridge.
7. Score and bake with steam.

The tools your hands need

A bench scraper, a flexible bowl scraper, a bowl of water for wet hands, a little rice flour for the basket, and a lame. Nothing else is needed to shape well.