baguettes - dough consistency for shaping
I've been making baguettes using the Anis Bouabsa recipe (more or less) for over a year. My baguettes actually come out very good most of the time. Great flavor, crust, and crumb. Not quite the volume I think I should.
My problem is that when I'm shaping my baguettes my dough is, what I call, floppy. I can barely roll it. Fortunately, it extends very easily... really too easily... so I'm able to get nice long baguettes. But in the balance between extensibility and elasticity, I'm not getting much elasticity.
Also, I've noticed something strange: the shape of the container I ferment the dough in (~24 hours) seems to affect how well it 'rolls out'. I ferment the dough for two loaves in a rectangular plastic container. When I take it out and cut it in two, the way the dough behaves seems to depend on whether I cut it on the long axis or short axis. I've never seen any mention of something like this.
I'd appreciate any ideas on either of these issues (which I think are related).
Thanks.
Barbara