Shaping Sourdough Loafs

Sourdough shaping

Here's how you do it:

Sprinkle some flour on the table and scrape them out of the bowl with a dough scraper, or dip your fingers in water and use them. Then use a dough spatula to run under the dough so that you loosen and shape it into a round resilient ball. This is called preshape.

Let the dough rest on the table for 30-40 minutes so that the gluten in the bread dough can be allowed to relax before it is to be shaped into the final bread.

Lightly sprinkle flour on the surface of the dough ball, and with the dough scraper, turn the dough with the flour side down on the table top. Make sure to keep the round shape.

Grasp the side facing you, lift the outer third of the dough up, and fold in over the rest of the dough. Press the flap lightly into place.

Grasp the sides of the dough where you folded the flap in over, stretch them out to the sides with both hands, and fold them inside over the center like an envelope.

Grasp the top of the dough and stretch it out a little before folding it down over the rest of the dough.

Grasp the dough two or three places lengthwise, pull the dough out to the sides, and fold them over the dough like a kind of braid.

Grasp one end of the dough and roll it into itself so that you are looking at a smooth surface and the folds are pointing down towards the table. Let it rest on the table for 4 minutes before placing it with the bottoms facing up in a leavening basket sprinkled with rice flour. Cover the dough with a plastic bag or cloth and leave it on the table for half an hour before putting it in the fridge overnight.

This whole last process is called final shape.