A Second Method of Shaping a Baguette

Gently stretch the preshaped dough piece so that it is oval, with the long dimension in an east-west orientation. Fold about one-third of the dough piece toward you over the main body of the dough and seam it with a couple of pats of the flat hand. Turn the dough piece around 180 degrees and repeat the folding and patting (refer to illustrations A, B, and C on page 70). Up to this point, the shaping is identical to the previous method, but now the changes begin. Place one hand at the center of the dough, fingers behind the dough. Draw your hand toward you and flip the center portion of the dough over on itself, as in illustration D. Now comes the important step of seaming this center portion. Keeping your hand just in the center section of the dough, roll the dough away from you until the heel of the hand comes in contact with the dough piece. Press the heel into the dough piece to begin seaming the dough (illustration E). Now roll the dough piece toward you until your fingertips contact the dough piece, and use the fingertips to continue the seaming (illustration F). Repeat the rolling away and towards you once or twice more, making sure that both heel of hand and fingers actively seam the dough as they come into contact with it. Keep in mind throughout this portion of the process that you are working on the area of the dough that will eventually be the highest point of the baguette, so take care not to make it too thin as you roll back and forth. Once the seam is secure, place the dough with seam down, place both hands on top of the dough so that index fingers are touching along their length, and proceed with the final rolling and contouring of the baguette (illustrations G and H).