- Gluten forms when two proteins in flour, glutenin and gliadin, come in contact with water.
- The mixing/kneading process, whether done by machine or by hand, vigorously or gently, has more to do with organizing the gluten network and less to do with gluten development (see previous). And no, a few minutes of manual kneading aren't apt to harm the dough unless the flour contains very little (like pastry flour or rye flour) or very fragile (like triticale or spelt flours) gluten.
- More mixing/kneading = finer, more even crumb texture with smaller bubbles. Less mixing/kneading = coarser, more open crumb with bigger bubbles.
- Bread can be made from dough that has risen anywhere from zero to three times (or even more), so long as food is readily available to the yeasts in the dough. Primary differences are texture and flavor in the finished bread. Zero rises = flatbread or flat bread or bricks. One rise = coarser, more random crumb texture with possibility of gaping holes; potentially more crumbly. Two or three rises = more even distribution of bubbles in crumb, probably smaller bubbles than one-rise bread. One rise too far = dense, gummy, pale loaf with little or no oven spring (or even collapse from previous expansion).
- Longer fermentation time, whether via multiple rises or a longer, colder rise, produces more flavorful bread than that made with a shorter fermentation time.
- The act of degassing, whether by "punching down" or by stretch and fold, or by pressing out the larger bubbles, or by a few strokes of kneading, has the effect of bringing the effectively immobile yeasts into contact with more food which leads to more gas production for the next rise. It also evens out bubble sizes and can even, if using a stretch and fold technique, strengthen the dough by aligning the gluten strands into a more organized network.
- A well-shaped loaf is better equipped to produce a large expansion while being baked than a poorly-shaped loaf.
- A loaf baked in a pan typically has a lesser amount of oven spring than a loaf baked directly on the hearth or on a baking stone.