Does it make a difference how you shape your bread? | Foodgeek Baking

[@ChainBaker]

Awesome! I love these kinds of comparisons and experiments. The best part is that it will still taste great no matter your shaping style :)

[@Foodgeek]

Yeah, and it really looks like it doesn't make much difference. I guess you can work the gluten too hard during shaping, making it harder to get the shape you prefer. It's a balance :)

@@Foodgeek I don't agree, your one looks the best in regards of crumb bubbles and their size and deployment ;)

[@mandyhasler4802]

So good to see the comparison. Love a kitchen experiment. Since adopting Simpel Sourdough’s shaping technique a few months ago, have noticed a real improvement in the height and overall results. Thank you.

[@jvallas]

I’d watch at higher hydration. It’s always interesting to see what factors matter.

[@DrewCJuice]

I love watching the Simple Surdej style shaping. I've seen it used by a number of professional sourdough bakeries and it's just so fun to watch.

[@SimpleSourdough]

Awesome experiment my friend 😊 Shaping looking good! Looking forward to share this 🤍🥖✨ Have a lovely Easter 🐣

[@Foodgeek]

Thanks my friend ❤️

[@BillB33525]

This video came at a perfect time, making bread for Easter dinner tomorrow.

[@jimfromri]

Interesting. I know it’s hard to be definitive based on a sample of one, but your shaping yielded the best crumb IMHO.

[@swc2019]

Thank you for your videos. Your willingness to do the work to put in the time to test different questions is much appreciated. Yes, I'd watch a higher hydration experiement!

[@karenbrooks3765]

Fantastic I've been tearing my hair out trying John and Peter's methods and not reachinga decision. I'll stop now and go back to my original mash up of yours and Jack's methods.

[@laineberning2578]

Thank you, and enjoyed watching. I don’t really make changes in my breads anymore, but I still watch every one of your videos because they’re interesting.

[@richmay3929]

To me, this drives home the importance of having your own signature on your own art. There is a lot of love and muscle memory at work here

[@calebwilson2886]

I love your channel! You make awesome videos! So descriptive and helpful, with beautiful shots of your baked creations. You've inspired me to take my baking to the next level. Thank you!

[@Foodgeek]

Thank you ❤️

[@HelloWorldETX]

Thanks for the shaping comparison. I also have been trying out different shaping techniques for the last ten or so loaves. It seems that as long as suitable tension is built up by shaping, what technique i used to get there isn’t the most important factor. Even just just repeatedly folding edges towards the center and pushing them in makes a tight tight ball that creates a nice loaf

[@reinaartvansichen9926]

Hey Sune, nice video again! Thanks to Jon from Proof Bread and his YT channel I have started my own micro bakery in my garage. I have the feeling that your bread would benefit from a little longer bulk fermentation, it would even out the crumb structure and archief a more evenly open crumb. But that is just my personal opinion :D Love the experiments! keep it up!

[@Foodgeek]

Maybe I should redo my fermentation experiment, but last time.oven spring suffered above 50% growth 😊

[@billabrams4271]

Sune...great video. I watch Peter's and your channel more often so I tend to shape my batard's like either of you.. They are both the most simple. Keep the great videos coming.

[@SimpleSourdough]

🙏😊✨

[@skepticalmom2948]

I like your method, that is what I use. My only difference is when I stretch and fold. I do a poke with my fingers into the dough (like focaccia) before I stretch it each time and it adds air bubbles to the dough. The bubbles are more consistent and regular. I get huge oven spring in my loaves now.

[@eugeniacoelho1826]

That's so interesting. I'm gonna try it. thank you

[@vaazig]

Great video. I would definitely be interested in a higher hydration experiment. I love experiments in general as there is a lot of bro-science in baking..

[@Dr_Bombay]

those are some of the craziest shaping methods i've ever seen! i thought it was interesting that yours seemed to have the most pleasing mix of tighter crumb with some larger, yummy holes.

[@katherinemaas6712]

I'd definitely watch at higher hydration. I'm remembering recently you commented in one of your videos (can't remember which one now) that you thought the airy crump in one of the final products might have been due to a less aggressive shaping, and ever since I've been trying to minimize how much I handle my dough at final shaping. Without getting a consistent result. I'm using your master recipe most of the time when I bake.

[@earthwormjim]

Was the Claire Saffitz' recipe video where aggressiveness was mentioned.

[@Rye_d_baker]

Hi sun. Very nice video. I usually follow very much similar final shaping method to ChainBaker’s . for me, i can see that his method got better crumb. Thanks

[@walruss60]

Thanks for sharing and teaching all of us.

[@soniacosgrove]

I really enjoyed this one! Thank you for your insight and practicum. This was very helpful.

[@rlwalker2]

I'm glad you only deal with one variable at a time. Changing more than that it would be difficult to know what change in the process caused what change in the final breads.

[@Peladoparaalgunos]

Food geek 🙌 always the best and the easiest method. And of course the most good looking bread

[@kathrynkabara9861]

Hi Sune! That was really Interesting! Then again....I enjoy all your experiments! I started sourdough at the beginning of 2020. Tried many recipes, I found yours the best! It's easy and fun! Every loaf has turned picture perfect! This year for Easter I made 6 loaves! I ran out of batons and used bowls to put in the refrigerator. Turned out great! I've been playing with add ins. Since your different liquid video I did tomato juice with pieces of sun dried tomatoes.....yummy! Then we had a store that made an artisan 5 cheese bread that was our daughter's favorite and they stopped making it. So I experimented and did 1/2 cubes (so that it doesn't melt and disappear in the bread) of mozzarella. Cheddar, Parmasan, and then shredded sharp cheddar, and a cheese powder. The kids go crazy over it. If you could guess we are dairy farmers in Wisconsin USA😆 Just wanted to tell you and thank you so much!

[@kathrynkabara9861]

I forgot to wish you a happy Easter! We added a loaf to our blessed basket of food. My husband's family is of Polish decent and its a tradition here in the Polish community in Wisconsin.

[@IBakeBread]

Your shape method is the best for me. I do the same way.

[@fum00A]

Clearly shaping is very important and a step that I need to impromove upon. I always thought that shapiing has more of an effect on oven spring - not so much on the crumb.

[@sheilam4964]

Love these experiment comparisions

[@julie55hope]

80 percent hydration is high to work with for most home bakers I think. I've not worked with anything above that. Would going to 90 percent make that much difference in the final bread structure? Hmmm, 🤔 You would be the guy to pull it off though! 😄

[@ambrosewetherbee8301]

Hydration alone isn't enough to determine resulting crumb structure. What kind of flour(s), protein content, gluten development protocol, and baking procedure also have to be factored into speculation.

[@Foodgeek]

It's mostly about the flour, to be honest 😊 I doubt there'd be a lot difference 😊

[@balogh89]

It was an interesting comparison, thank You for your work! Although these open crumb breads looks really pretty, I prefer mine with a tighter crumb. I found that these open crumb structures aren't that useful for making sandwiches/grilled cheese - as just spreading some butter or margarine over them isn't that easy. So I'm usually just lazy as hell, doing some stretch-and-fold, and do not stress on shaping too much either. For my wife and me the taste and texture of my sourdough bread is more important than the instagram-ready look. But I completely understand the desire and pursuit after these kind of breads too!

[@skepticalmom2948]

Btw, I love your channel and your experiments are the best!

[@RolandBarker]

I've watched lots of your experiment videos, great information...but much of the time your experiments reveal that it doesn't make much difference, so what things really do make a difference? What shortcuts can't you take, etc. I'd love to see a video focusing on what is essential.

[@Foodgeek]

My master recipe is a culmination of everything done the simplest way 😊

[@andynorton7529]

I like yours the most.

[@jklphoto]

That stitching @ 4:50 might help your bread become more slender, but it ain't makin' me any more slender! 🙂

[@dominikn19]

Interesting! 🤩 A video about Lievito Madre would be so cool! ✌️ Have a nice day, Sune! 😉

[@richmay3929]

I’ve been looking forward to this one!

[@shayannah]

Where on earth do you put the hot lid of the challenger?

[@Foodgeek]

I've shown it in a few videos, but I put it on a cutting board. But your stove will be appropriate too :)

[@vc1693]

I'd love to see a higher hydration, I love experiment time

[@gianfranco.barbiani]

please try different scoring angles. Ex: 90deg (aka perpendicular to the table), 45deg and 0deg (aka, paralell to the table)

[@13Luk6iul]

I noticed you recommended a 50% rise. I’ve heard you recommend 25% before. What is better in which cases? The fermentation is the hardest for me to get right

[@Foodgeek]

My experiments show 25-50% is the zone you need to aim for. Recently I've started doing closer to 50%. The reason I usually recommend 25% is because people have a tendency to over proof :)

[@13Luk6iul]

@@Foodgeek thank you for your help!

[@someoneelse2262]

I wonder how much handling comes in to play. In particular, since you can do your own shaping method with your eyes closed (for obvious reasons), you handle the dough almost unconsciously and therefore minimally. The other methods on the other hand, because you aren't as used to them, have you handling the dough quite a bit more. This might explain why (though you never say it), your crumb is far more even (no channeling, unevenness, etc.) compared to the others. A thought. Or it could just be that your method is better. :)

[@Foodgeek]

That obviously could be a factor, which I guess is only overcome by doing all of these shaping methods until they are second nature. That being said, I don't think that the difference in crumb is so great that it's really significant :)

[@eugeniacoelho1826]

Nice approaching

[@ambrosewetherbee8301]

To people not familiar with Proof Bread: Jon has said that he sees Amanda(his partner) as a more proficient shaper than him, and every employee at Proof Bread shapes in their own way, so Jon's shaping method is only one of the many ways that the bakery's boules/batards are shaped. I think that any aspiring baker should have the takeaway from this experiment that there are numerous factors to consider in bread baking. Shaping is just one and won't make or break a bread protocol. Isolating a single factor like pre-bake shaping is interesting but so many factors are involved like hydration, gluten development procedures, bulk fermentation and cold fermentation implementation, presence or lack of flour blend, the kind of flour, baking procedures (time, temperature, humidity implementation, kind of oven, etc.), and so on.

[@Foodgeek]

Absolutely. That's why I try to make these experiments the same across experiments, so that only one factor changes. It's assumerd that you get everything things else 'right'.

[@ambrosewetherbee8301]

@@Foodgeek Thank you for spreading knowledge of baking! There's a surplus of bread making content but scant few people are informative like you.

[@skepticalmom2948]

I love Jon's channel and his new bakery is impressive.

[@onlyinparadise4613]

What’s the difference between letting the dough rest for 1 hour vs 30 minutes after you mix it? Please and thank you 🙏

[@Foodgeek]

I'm sure 30 minutes is fine. There's diminishing returns from autolyse when it's over 20 minutes if the bread is made with mainly bread flour :)

[@betspath]

Love my t-shirt!

[@GeoffMack]

Alright bud. You need to change the strings on that acoustic. They are completely dead. Thanks for the bread experiments. I love it.

[@Foodgeek]

Yeah, the nylon string guitar? I play that so rarely, but I know 😂

[@davidgeorge7443]

Thank you for doing the experiment so I don't have to!

[@Foodgeek]

You're welcome :D

[@katealigaard1483]

Your bread looked awesome, but really, the others did too, although you could see there was a slight difference in the crumb of your bread. I'm baking bread tomorrow. I hope it turns out nice. It's a Pain de Campagne. Bake Happy!

[@VeretenoVids]

Interesting! I'd also be interested in a 90% experiment.

[@andrejvisnyovszki8953]

Finally, yes, yes, thank you !!!!

[@gnawbabygnaw]

Yours looks best. To me 🤙

[@plengmini2712]

Interesting

[@ooberroadie14]

Flour from different manufactures absorb water at different rates (i.e. 70% hydration for GM AP flour is far more viscous than KA AP flour at the same hydration %) Do you know of or have you developed a test to achieve a consistent viscosity amongst various types of flour from different manufactures? (e.g. a viscosity of a 60% hydration of a GM AP flour = 70% hydration of a KA AP flour)

[@alexandersolla]

If shaping method makes such a small difference, it makes me wonder if it really boils down to dough strength? Are there ways to compare methods of creating dough strength?

[@byambaus1]

Gluten is make me gain weight & floating! Any videos preventing?

[@leoabbatangelo6400]

Have you ever made a video on using sour dough for pizza?

[@Foodgeek]

Absolutely. It was one of my big videos in 2020: fdgk.net/sourdough-pizza-video :)

[@lbamusic]

Food Geek crumb was the best...

[@anitamaemone2548]

90% hydration please!

[@magnusskov7978]

What kind of flour do you use? - it seems to be very strong.

[@earthwormjim]

I'm wondering if the openness of the crumb had less to do with the shaping method, and more to do with comfort and familiarity with each technique. Your shaping method looked to result in the least amount of sticking to your hands, and you did it really fast. Some of the other ones, you seemed to have gotten a little stuck to the dough, and took longer to finish, with more movements involved to get the end result, potentially degassing more along the way.

[@PopDisplay1]

should have done a 5th dough with NO final shaping

[@Foodgeek]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKekZ52AqNdjfrs

[@krs-fltutorials4487]

You should have done a control with no shaping!

[@Foodgeek]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKekZ52AqNdjfrs

[@krs-fltutorials4487]

@@Foodgeek ofcourse. Will watch now!

[@mandyhasler4802]

Oh and I do only 73% hydration. Might have a go at the higher hydration recipe of yours.

[@sacdigitaldesignweb]

I think it’s a little over baked. The outer surface looks dry

[@Foodgeek]

Not everybody likes this, but that's how I,like my bread 😊

[@someoneelse2262]

@@Foodgeek most definitely agree. I'd rather a little edge burn than undercooked bread.

[@stevehowe5601]

I’m a fan of your experiments but this time I think it would have been more telling to include one more simple shaping technique. These are all so elaborate and I really doubt all that is beneficial

[@mirafan3348]

Here is an experiment that I’d wish you would do. Try to make a sourdough that YOU YOURSELF would consider to be TOO TANGY. I bet you cannot do it.

[@barrychambers4047]

Try adding 1% vinegar to your bakers %. More acid means quicker ferment.

[@mirafan3348]

@@barrychambers4047 that’s cheating. I want to see if he can do it with just the 4 ingredients. That would impress me

[@superfoodsmoothies]

Very informative thank you Sune! I'd also be interested in how Claire Saffitz shaping method compares, and yes 90% and also 70% hydration. The more shaping experiments the better! 😄

[@kjdude8765]

He just did a comparison to Claire's Sourdough.

[@superfoodsmoothies]

@@kjdude8765 yes but I'm interested in comparing the shaping rather than the whole process

[@kjdude8765]

@@superfoodsmoothies Got it. I can check but I'm pretty sure he copied her shaping method as well but then did his standard recipe and shaping. Not sure how comparable that video would be in the end.

[@kyaume21]

It seems there was some difference in ovenspring. The Simpel Surdej one exhibiting the most oven spring. Pity you didn't identify the breads when showing the crumb - there were slight differences in compactness, so I don't quite share your conclusions. g

[@Foodgeek]

There's a label on the cutting board when I reveal the crumb. Looking at the breads from the side shows very close or similar oven spring. Check my instagram for a comparison picture 😊

[@BillB33525]

@@Foodgeek I would like to see a ruler next to each loaf to see how much oven spring the experts get. I nearly get 4".