tartine's "scoring" of bottom of loaf
Hi folks -
For the final proofing, Tartine/Chad Robertson apparently "score" the bottom of the loaf with a single lengthwise indentation, using a bench knife. You can see this clearly in the Tartine Bread book on p. 64. Also see p. 115 for oval loaves proofing with the same indentation. Unless I missed it, the indentation isn't explained in the text. Any thoughts on why they cut into the bottom of the loaf for the final proof?
In the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5kKeKSfyOE [1] breads are being proofed with the indentation at 00:37, 00:59, and 01:15. At 05:52 you can see some awesome shaping. As far as I can tell, it seems that the Tartine folks shape the bread for an oval/batard, but then roll the almost-shaped dough over into a ball. Then they "score" the bottom of the loaf and place the indented round in baskets for a final fermentation. Perhaps the indentation helps to allow the tight round to expand in the directions of an oval.
Wondering if any of you have some ideas about the purpose of this technique. If this has been discussed elsewhere in the forums, please point me in the right direction.
Thanks!
Ben