After I punch down bread dough, do I let it rise again?

Typically, but not with all dough, you punch it down, push it aside and start cutting and forming what you are going to make. That's assuming it's more then just a loaf of dough. Then once you form your dough into the requisite shape (loaf, ball, braid..and seal your bottoms or rolls) you then let it rise for about another 15-30 minutes on or in its baking tray, egg wash and bake.

Some breads and dough only do a single rise then are formed and baked straight away. With these doughs take it easy when shaping the dough, you do not want to lose the gases in the dough or at least as little as possible. Hope this helps.

 

when forming dough you usually end up with a seam or seams from either combining multiple pieces of dough to make the weight you want (say a 1 pound loaf) or just simply the edges of the dough forming a single loaf.

the easiest thing to do is to take your loaf when you have it roughly the shape you want and pull/roll (in your hands) the seams to the bottom of the loaf during the final formation. I probably didn't explain that well. But anywhere the dough has a seam or join line it stands a chance of blowing out IF it isn't on the bottom of the dough where it will be contained by the weight of the loaf or the pan it's in. You can try the old watery hands trick and tease the seam together on the outside, but sometimes trapped air tends to make a large pocket in the bread.