Dividing and Rounding Dough

If you are making rolls or more than one loaf with your batch of dough, you’ll have to divide it. Don’t pull it apart— you’ll tear the gluten strands—but instead cut it with a bench scraper, a knife, or scissors. A scale is invaluable for even division; if you don’t have one, you’ll have to eyeball it.

Regardless of the final shape of the bread, each section of dough should be rounded. By rounding the dough, you stretch the gluten on the surface and increase its surface tension. This tension helps the dough hold its shape during proofing and in the oven and helps prevent the dough from expanding out instead of up. To round a piece of dough, place it on a work surface and pull each of the 4 corners toward the center on top. Use all the fingers of one hand to pinch the ends of the dough together. Turn the dough over and use the sides of your hands to press the dough inward around the bottom to tighten and round it. If you’re making a long loaf, use the same method but leave the dough closer to an oval in shape. Some bakers recommend letting the dough rest at this point. This rest is called “benching” and is designed to relax the gluten and make it easier to give the dough its final shape. If the dough is elastic and relentlessly pulls back into its original shape as you work with it, it may require 2 or even 3 benchings of 10 to 20 minutes each before it reaches its final shape. Cover the dough with plastic wrap during any rest periods to prevent a crust from forming, taking care not to tuck the plastic under the dough.