Aligning Gluten Strands
I understand that the purpose of the stretching and folding of the dough during fermentation is to strengthen it and to align the gluten strands. Hamelman and many others advocate stretching and folding the dough on the bench in 2 directions perpendicular to each other in essence keeping it on the X and Y axes. James MacGuire advocates stretching and folding the dough in the bowl rotating it 180 degrees so essentially creating multi-directional axes. Does anybody know if in theory the 2 methods will produce the same results as far as elasticity, extensibility, oven spring and openess of crumb is concerned? Is it possible that the Hamelman method is better for elongated bread such as baguettes and batards while the MacGuire method is more suited for round loaves like boules and miches? Any thoughts and comments are welcomed. Thanks.
Don