Shaping dough and degassing

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I'm working on improving my rustic breads, particularly the crumb structure; I'm shooting for those elusive open holes that everyone loves so much.

When shaping loaves of any kind, boule, baguette, or batard, I'm super paranoid about knocking the dough about to much. I don't want to lose any of the air pockets created during bulk fermentation if I don't have to. Many instruction sources I've used advocate this light handed treatment. It's certainly hard to get a good shape with as little touching as possible but it's worth it.

Where I get confused is there's some sources that don't seem to think any light treatment of when shaping is needed. Seriously, watch the first video here from Baking With Julia. Forestier manhandles those loaves almost like she's trying to knead them again.

Granted the loaves produced in that show don't have a terribly irregular crumb, but there's some significant bubbles, far larger than any I've seen in my bread so far. So, what's everyone's feeling on how hard to treat the dough? Am I just being too careful?

[tino27]

Higher hydration helps, too. Typically the wetter the dough, the "holier" the crumb.

From my experience, you will always lose a little gas while shaping. The trick is to try and minimize the loss. For me this is achieved through higher hydrations and minimal handling. It was just something I had to achieve through practice. The tendency is to throw lots of flour on your work surface so nothing sticks. Sometimes, a little sticking is not such a bad thing.