The Fresh Loaf

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Batard Shaping —> Worth a Watch!

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Batard Shaping —> Worth a Watch!

For those that aren’t aware of Eva from Bake-Street.com, I suggest to check this lady out. Her RECIPE PAGE goes on for miles and her work is that of an artist.

Today I am super excited to watch and learn her Batard shaping technique. I don’t ever remember seeing a loaf shaped this way. In the video Eva is working with a laminated swirl dough, but her shaping method should work well with any extensible dough. 

The shaping takes place at the 3min 5sec mark.
you can use THIS LINK to go directly to the exact spot on the timeline.

HeiHei29er's picture
HeiHei29er

Agree with you Dan.  That shaping is much better than mine.  😁. She makes it look easy.

Gadjowheaty's picture
Gadjowheaty

I am utterly floored by this entire piece.  She's treating this highly elastic dough as if it was classic laminate, with perfect hands and patience.  And rolling it out, against all the rules!  I've never seen such technique applied in this way.

alfanso's picture
alfanso

as the outlier and likely unpopular opinion.  

While there is no denying that the end result is interesting, if it takes anymore than max, let's say, even twice as long as it does in Martin Philip's method here https://youtu.be/HuQ5K9eLfJ0?list=PLE2D447C3F9AAD68F&t=484 , then it's playing with your food.  

It gets me twitchy watching someone shape a dough for minutes as though it is some sort of philosophical event instead of the few seconds that it should take to form each loaf.

albacore's picture
albacore

I think the actual shaping is pretty quick; it's the blending of the two doughs that takes the time, plus she's shaping at demo speed.

So I think it looks like a good method, BUT I think there's a danger in trying to learn too many bat shaping methods - better to stick to one or two and try and get really good at them.

Lance

Gadjowheaty's picture
Gadjowheaty

100% agree.  One thing really well, then move on.  

I think she was supplanting a lot more rolling with frequent "lift and flips" to keep from sticking with very little flour.  That, and my presumption the two layers can have a tendency to slide over each other, tells me she's got game.  Granted, I've only experience with laminate pastry, and not marble breads so maybe I'm just naïve.  

Benito's picture
Benito

For a swirly loaf I prefer Kristen's method.  But to each his/her own.  There are so many ways to end up with a good result.

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