"Kenneth" > wrote:
>Rather than just "forming the dough into a ball" think of the process as
>"stretching" the surface of the dough so that it can then be "pinched"
>together at the bottom...

Proper shaping is a difficult skill to learn. Before I ever started working
in a bakery all I knew about shaping was what I had learned in books. I
thought I had a good idea how to shape a loaf, but I found out that I really
had no clue. It took me many weeks of shaping hundreds of loaves a day
before I could form a properly shaped tight loaf that would hold it's shape
nicely.

What the books don't tell you is that it takes considerable time to develop
a "feel" for the dough. Kenneth gives a nice example for how to shape a
loaf, but it is a difficult process to learn...even more so for those
attempting to learn on their own. Bad shaping habits can develop without
constant feedback from someone who knows what they are doing. I've seen many
professional bakers who have been baking for years who still can't shape
very well, simply because they lacked that feedback when they were learning.

That being said, I believe the average home baker is at a disadvantage when
trying to get a taught well-shaped loaf. Baskets or pans can definitely help
to retain a loafs shape and allow for a higher rise in many cases.

Trevor