Diagram for Shaping French Bread

Lightly stretch out the dough with the palms of your hands.

Use a light touch.

Make sure not to release too much gas!

*You don't have to stretch it out too much either.

Fold a little more than 1/3 the dough from the bottom.

The dough should be folded from the top towards the bottom, but you also need to seal it at the same time, and shift the seam to the center.

lightly press down on the seam with your thumbs...

...and then fold the dough in half.

Use the knuckle on your thumb to seal the folded dough.

The place the seam downwards, roll the dough back and forth, stretch to the length of the pan, and you are done with the shaping.

It's hard to see, but the bread has a bunch of nice air pockets.