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Topic · Baking

Shaping

A bâtard with one long score and an ear — the shape used in the teaching country loaf.

Printed from https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/shaping/

Organizing fermented dough into a taut loaf so that it can rise upward in the proof and the oven.

Appears in Learn sourdough · Previous: Bulk fermentation · Next: Final proof

Shaping takes a piece of bulk-fermented dough and gives it a skin and a direction. The baker degasses only as much as the style requires, then tightens the surface without tearing the Gluten network built during Dough development.

A well-shaped loaf sits with tension. A poorly shaped loaf spreads. That tension is what Scoring later exploits.

This is handcraft more than chemistry, but it depends on the fermentation that came before 1. After shaping comes the Final proof.

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Appears in pathways

Sources & further exploration

Cited in this article

  • Raymond Calvel. The Taste of Bread. Aspen Publishers. 2001. ISBN 978-0-8342-1646-4

Updated 2026-08-25. gg:topic:shaping · CC BY 4.0

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Gourmet Gastronomer. "Shaping." Updated 2026-08-25. https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/shaping/ gg:topic:shaping.

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Gourmet Gastronomer. "Shaping." Gourmet Gastronomer. Updated August 25, 2026. https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/shaping/.

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Gourmet Gastronomer. (2026, August 25). Shaping. https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/shaping/