If the indentation disappears, the dough needs more rising time. Make the same test when you have the shaped dough rising in the pan just before baking. When you think it has risen enough, use your finger to make a SMALL dent in the dough near the side of the pan. If the dent remains, the bread is ready to bake. Bread making is a skill that requires practice. Add Your Comment Cancel reply. This is thing that has worried me about baking bread from the beginning.
Thank you! Baking is something new to me but thanks to you I feel that I am learning the basics and can now figure out if something goes wrong. Everything makes more sense to me now. I must be a very lacksidasical bread maker because I have never wondered if my bread has risen enough. I just sort of guess, even at the very beginning, all those years ago when I first started making my own bread.
I think my bread is quite good. I have managed that successfully only once. Every subsequent time the resulting croissants could have done good service as horse shoes! Thank you for the picture with finger indentation. I did it on side of bread and it was perfect. I had a question about letting dough rise. When bulk fermenting dough that makes for more than one loaf, there comes a time when you have to transform that dough into smaller pieces, each a loaf on its own.
Dividing takes that dough from a big piece of dough into small pieces, and those smaller pieces need to be shaped into their final form before proofing. To make this transition easier, preshaping is performed to gently get those pieces into a shape that will result in an even and consistent final shape. Besides helping to shape, I like to think each time I round and tuck the dough when preshaping as adding in a little extra strength, like a single stretch and fold.
It's a place where you can also correct for a dough that might be a little too slack but giving it a strong preshape with several rounds and tucks, giving it a strong outer skin of dough that will help keep it in form while shaping and into proof.
With all that said, there are times when preshaping bread dough isn't necessary and you can skip the step. It's not mandatory you have to preshape, and in some cases it might not make sense to preshape at all. This is all related to dough strength: if your dough is strong enough and doesn't require any help getting into its final form, no preshape is needed. A good example is when I'm baking my sourdough miche.
Because it's a single, large piece of dough, there's no dividing. It's also typically strong enough to skip the preshape although not always and shape it directly.
The important thing is to be flexible. If the dough feels very strong coming out of bulk fermentation, either because you've mixed it to great development, given it many sets of stretch and folds, its hydration is on the lower end, or all of the above, skipping preshaping might make sense. Recommended reading: How to stretch and fold bread dough during bulk fermentation.
Before starting to preshape, step back and assess your dough at the end of bulk fermentation: is it slack and weak looking 1? Or does it look like it has well-defined edges, is smooth, and on the stronger side? If the dough is on the weak side, go into preshaping knowing you might want to impart additional strength by preshaping more aggressively. If the dough is smooth and strong as you can see in my video below , you can be gentle with fewer movements.
Using your bench knife at a shallow angle with the work surface, push the dough while at the same time using your wet hand to tuck it under itself, creating tension. It's a fluid motion, pushing and slightly rounding with your bench knife while using your free hand to continue the rounding motion while tucking the dough slightly under itself. One thing you'll begin to learn with time is how to push, tuck, and pull the dough to keep it in a mostly round shape. However, it's important to make the call in the moment: Is the dough a little on the weak side?
If so, preshape it with more strength and order. Conversely, if the dough is plenty strong, a really light hand will suffice.
In addition, think about how soon after preshaping you want to do your final shaping. If the interval between preshape and shape is short, then preshape gently. If it's longer, preshape more assertively. In performing a preshape, I rely heavily on my bench knife and lightly floured hands. The bench knife pushes the dough toward my bare hand which is used to guide and tuck the dough under. I prefer to keep a shallow angle between the bench knife and the work surface, as seen above.
I find a shallow angle allows me to push and pull the dough a little more without over-tightening. The goal for preshaping is to take each piece and form it into a loosely round shape with just enough tension on the outside.
The round should hold its shape on the work surface but not be preshaped so tight that the "skin" on the outside begins to tear.
Stop preshaping when you notice the top is smooth without creases and is relatively uniform all around -- if you're too aggressive with preshaping you'll end up with a denser loaf of bread. Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Then, dust the top of the dough with flour and divide it into pieces scaled to your desired dough weight. Push the blade against the dough, and as you push, turn it slightly down across your work surface.
Both of your hands work in unison: your empty hand tucks the dough under as you push the blade into the dough. The motion is quick and gentle; I then remove my blade and hand from the dough as soon as it comes to rest on the work surface. Repeat this motion with your blade and hand over and over, gently rotating the dough each time.
This tightening will be visible on the outside of the dough as its skin stretches slightly and becomes taut. Continue with these motions until the dough is in a loose, round shape. There should be no visible seams or bulging sides. If there are, continue to gently round the dough and smooth the surface. The key is to find that balance between just enough tension and not enough.
If you were to shape your dough immediately after preshaping, it would be too tight and it could tear. When you give your dough time to rest, in what's called the "bench rest," you give it time to relax and spread.
This returns extensibility to the uniform pieces, allowing us to manipulate them into their final shape. Generally, a bench rest can range from 10 to 45 minutes.
The tighter the preshape, the longer the bench rest before it relaxes sufficiently. If you find your dough quickly spreads, cut the bench rest short. Then, either perform a second preshape step or proceed with final shaping straightaway. As with most aspects of baking, preshaping takes practice and careful attention. If you watch carefully, we can see how each movement imparts order to pieces that were once shaggy bits. This paves the way for a more successful shaping and increased baking consistency.
What's the best way to work on your preshape? Find a bulletproof bread recipe , double the ingredients, and get practicing. There's no substitute for building up the confidence and intuition that comes with repeated training. Head over to the King Arthur sourdough guide for a deeper look at each step of baking, including a video of an alternate preshaping approach.
Maurizio is an engineer-turned-baker who bakes from his home kitchen in Albuquerque, NM. He bakes, writes and photographs for his blog, The Perfect Loaf , which focuses on naturally leavened sourdough bread.
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