Vol. XXIV · Bread Plate 8 of 12shaping, surface tension, boule, batard, final proof, proofing, poke test, under-proofed, over-proofed, scoring, banneton, 整形, 二次发酵TM

Shaping and Proofing.

Press a fingertip into a proofing loaf. If the dent springs back at once, wait; slowly, bake; not at all, you are late.

After the bulk fermentation the dough is divided, pre-shaped into loose rounds, rested 15–30 minutes so the gluten relaxes, and then shaped. Shaping stretches the surface of the dough over itself, tucking and rolling until the outside is a taut skin of aligned gluten — surface tension — while the inside keeps its gas. That skin lets a loaf stand up instead of spreading, guides the oven spring upward and gives clean, opening cuts when scored. Boules are rounded on the bench; batards and baguettes are rolled into tight cylinders; tin loaves are rolled up and set seam-down.

The final proof then lets the shaped loaf fill with gas again, to about one and a half to twice its shaped volume (XXIV.5). Under-proofed, it still has strength to spare: it bursts at the sides and bakes dense with a tight crumb. Over-proofed, the gluten has stretched to its limit: the loaf spreads, the score does not open, and it may collapse in the oven. The poke test reads the state: flour a finger, press 1 cm in; a dent that springs back immediately means under, slowly and partly means ready, not at all means over. The workshop proofs a loaf.

Below: the volume of a shaped loaf during its final proof at the temperature you choose (course fermentation model, 1 % instant yeast, starting from the degassed shape), with the poke-test zones for under-proofed, ready and over-proofed.

What you will learn
Workshop
Course fermentation model: 1 % instant yeast, lean dough, starting at 1.0 after shaping; volume in multiples of the shaped loaf. Zones (teaching): under-proofed below 1.5, ready 1.5–2.3, over-proofed above 2.3 as the gluten nears its limit (the model's peak is 3.2).

Taut skin, then the right moment

In the course model a shaped lean loaf at 26 °C reaches the ready zone after about 56 minutes and stays there until about 115; at 22 °C it reaches it only after about 71 minutes. That window is why bakers proof by the dough, not the clock: the poke test, the look (rounded, airy, jiggling slightly when the tin is tapped) and, for a retarded loaf, a little less proof than for one baked straight away, because the oven spring of a cold loaf is strong.

Shaping a boule: on an unfloured bench, fold the edges of the pre-shaped round into the centre, flip it seam-down, and drag it towards you with cupped hands a few times until the surface is taut and smooth; set seam-up in a floured basket (banneton). Proof covered, at 24–27 °C or in the fridge overnight (XXIV.6). Turn out onto a peel or paper, score with a razor at a shallow angle 5–10 mm deep — the cut is a hinge for the oven spring (XXIV.9) — and bake at once.

At the stove

Shape two small loaves from one dough. Bake one when it springs back immediately to a poke and the other when the dent springs back slowly. Compare their volume and crumb.

Bakers' scoring patterns began as practical marks — a way to tell whose loaf was whose in a shared village oven — and became signatures; the baguette's seven to nine overlapping cuts are fixed by tradition and competition rules.

Terms

Surface tension
The taut skin of gluten built on a shaped loaf.
Final proof
The rise of the shaped loaf before baking.
Poke test
Pressing a floured finger into dough to judge its proof.
Scoring
Cutting the loaf's surface so it opens where you choose.
Shaping builds a taut gluten skin; the final proof refills it to about 1.5–2 times. Poke test: springs back fast — wait; slowly — bake; not at all — over. Score, then bake at once.

Sources

  1. A teaching value chosen for the course: the right order of magnitude and shape, not a measurement of a particular food.
  2. H. McGee, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, 2nd ed., Scribner, 2004.