I have been working with Susan's (Wild Yeast) Norwhich Sourdough recipe to practice my bread baking skills and I have a question about the shaping steps. After a 2.5 hour ferment it says to turn out the dough and divide it and preshape the dough pieces into light balls. My question is: should I be de-gassing the dough at this stage or handling it gently? After a 15 minute rest the dough is shaped for its final rise. I have been handling the dough gently in the preshape step and when I do the final shape I seem to have gas bubbles right under the skin of the dough - it doesn't seem right.
In general, I try to handle the dough gently after the bulk ferment is complete. Sourdough loaves don't recover as quickly and the bubbles are a good thing. You can pop any large surface bubbles that would burn but I like the look of the darker thin pockets. Hope this helps.
Eric
You always want to pop large surface bubbles, but sourdough is a fickle thing, it doesn't have the same rising oumpf that yeasted breads have - if you degas it, it will likely not recover. I have made that bread before, and it turned out great.
All three loaves came out fine (2 boules and 1 batard). Now if I could just learn how to score bread. I will keep watching the tutorials and practicing - maybe someday I will master it! On the bright side, the Norwhich Sourdough bread has a wonderful taste that my family loves! Thanks for the help!
I've always used Susan's Sourdough Norwich recipe since I started my starter (lol) 15 months ago. I've never de-gassed the dough?!