This second method is a delight on the hands, and when I’m in production it’s my preferred method for shaping a bâtard. When teaching hand-shaping skills, I do find that most people somewhat new to baking have more difficulty learning this method, and I recommend first learning the method detailed above.
This method begins in the same way as the previous method: the long portion of the dough is placed in a north-south orientation, one-third of the dough is folded toward you and then patted to adhere the two portions, the two corners are brought slightly in toward the center and the dough is again patted (see illustrations A, B, and C). From here on the process changes. Take the portion of the dough that is further from you (the portion that has just been worked up) and make one fold toward you so that you have created a cylinder the entire length of the dough. Seam it well with your fingers (see illustration D). The cylinder will eventually become the finished loaf, as the flat section closer to you is gradually incorporated into the cylinder. As in illustration E, lay your thumbs horizontally on the top of the cylinder.