Lean, airy, whole grain breads
Hi from Tucson! I'm new to posting and subscribing so please bear with me. I usually use my white sourdough starter, high hydration, and a variety of recipes modified from books like Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads, Silverstein's Bread from La Brea, or my own ad-lib creations. Sometimes I go crazy and make a white flour sourdough French bread. Whatever I do, and things usually turn out well enough, shaping into a batard is hit and miss for me. I feel like I'd get airier whole grain bread if....well, what? I try to follow instructions but am often left with creases that bake hard or gaps that open, instead, on the crease. My breads are usually of the lean-dough type. I'm interested in the stretching-of-the-dough technique but I'm not seeing answers in the forums about stretching for the final shaping. Can you just pull the dough into shape for the baking, either for a baquette pan or freeform for placing on the baking stone? Thanks, Christina