My neighbor's sourdough critique got me questioning my whole process

I mean, I've been baking sourdough for about 8 months now, and I thought I had it down. Then my neighbor, who used to run a bakery in Portland, watched me shape a loaf last Tuesday and said, 'you're overworking the dough, it's fighting you.' I laughed it off, but after two batches came out denser than a brick, I tried his lighter touch and it was night and day. So which is better, gentle handling or the slap-and-fold method, because now I'm second guessing every video I've watched?

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aaron_ellis4218d ago

Ha, sounds like your neighbor is secretly a bread whisperer! I mean, I've slapped dough around for years and now I'm wondering if I've just been wrestling with gluten for fun.