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To round the dough, dust the surface of your kneading board lightly with flour so the dough won’t stick to it. Using a rubber spatula, carefully dislodge the dough from the bowl and turn it gently out onto the board top side down. (The smooth top surface of the dough will form the crust of your finished loaf, so try not to tear it.)

Moisten or flour your hands and flatten the dough into a circle about an inch thick, pressing gas bubbles out of it. Notice how stretchy and pliable the dough is when it is fully risen—the gluten is completely relaxed.

Imagine the dough as a flower whose petals you are going to fold into the center. Fold one edge just past the center, then overlap the next part of the edge and work your way around the circle, pressing them all down as you go until you have formed a ball. If the dough is very soft, you may need to go around the circle more than once to get a ball. Turn the piece over so the smooth side is up.

Next, hold the dough ball on the table with your hands on each side and move the full surface of your hands downward until they almost meet underneath, forming a little foot of dough between them on the bottom. Give the ball a turn and repeat the motion. Continue until the gluten film is smooth and tight, being careful not to tear it. You have now rounded the dough.

Deflating and rounding invigorates the yeast, but it also tenses the gluten. The dough will need to rest a few minutes before you can shape it into a loaf. Cover it with a damp cloth or inverted bowl and allow it to rest. Depending on the dough, it will gas up enough to relax in 10 minutes or so. Use this time to wash out your bowl, to grease your loaf pan, and to prepare a warm place for the final rising.

9. Shaping

There are many ways to shape a loaf. The idea is to provide an orderly structure so that it can rise its highest. A well-shaped loaf is even-textured, unlikely to crumble when sliced or to fall apart when the slice is spread.

The rounded dough is ready to shape when it has softened, or relaxed. Shape it in easy stages, gently, because while shaping invigorates the dough and improves its texture and structure, you want to avoid rough handling that might tear the gluten. Use either your hands or a rolling pin, whichever works better for you.

1. Dust your board lightly with flour if the dough seems sticky at all, and turn the relaxed round of dough upside down on it. Press into a circle about an inch thick.

2. Fold the dough down not quite in half, so the bottom edge smiles at you. Press the dough from one side to the other, letting the gas pop when it comes out the edge.

3. Fold this piece in from the sides, overlapping the ends slightly, so that the dough is about two-thirds the length of your loaf pan. Use the side of your hand or a rolling pin to press out the gas bubbles, rolling or pressing until the dough is about the length of the loaf pan.

4. Pull the dough toward you as if you were going to curl it up like a jelly roll. Since the piece is not very long, it may not actually roll up, but just about fold in half: either way is fine, as long as it’s rolled snugly so that it doesn’t trap air pockets.

5. Press the seam to seal it, and press the ends down to seal them.

6. Place the loaf in the center of the greased pan with the seam on the bottom, in the middle. Press the dough with the palm of your hand or the back of your fingers, so that it covers the bottom of the pan.

Mastering shaping takes a little practice; don’t expect perfection the first time through. If you have to, you can go back to the rounding step, but unless your loaf looks totally ludicrous, it is better not to reshape because of the likelihood of tearing the gluten with too much handling. (Anyhow, some of the weirdest-looking breads taste the best because they’re so crusty.)

10. Proofing (About 45 minutes to 1 hour)

The rising in the pan, known as the proof, takes about half the time of the second rising. Because it is good to give the yeast a boost at this