This recipe looks great, can't wait to try it (similar to one I may have seen in the NY Times years ago???). Anyway, just a point of clarification - after all the folding and shaping, I assume you place the baguettes *seam side down* on the parchment sheet for the final rise? (and when you're rolling and shaping just prior to that, you're gently steering in that direction? (That's how it appears...) I ask because I have always been confounded by the instruction for forming baguettes in Julia Child's otherwise excellent "The Way to Cook" to "lift it seal side UP onto a lightly floured towel..." and from there on, the seal never seems to make its way to the bottom. It just seems counter-intuitive to me. Can you shed any light on this? Yes, you are correct. The seam should be face-down. I always try (sometimes the seam vanishes into the dough mass & I can't tell up from down...) to place the seam down onto the pan. kelsey Although she might not have made it plain, I'm sure Julia would have wanted you to roll the loaf from the cloth onto the pan seam side down; starting with the seam up means you only have to give it a half-roll onto the pan or stone... PJH

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