A heads up to all bakers who use an autolyse in their bread baking -

Teresa Greenway (a home bread baker of consummate skill who has been sharing her knowledge on her blog  - http://www.northwestsourdough.com/discover/ - for many years) has posted two entries exploring the effect of an autolyse (the technique of mixing water and flour from your bread recipe and allowing it to rest for a period of time in order to develop the gluten in the bread dough).

Teresa specializes in sourdough breads. Her two experiments explore the length of an autolyse (from 30 minutes to 2 hours) and it's effect on the outcome of the bread. Her posts are detailed, well written and include many photos.

Here are the links to her two posts on this subject...

http://www.northwestsourdough.com/discover/?p=2558 (post #1 dated October 26, 2011)

and

http://www.northwestsourdough.com/discover/?p=2603 (post #2 dated November 3, 2011)

Definitely worth the read! Thanks Teresa. We owe you.

=== PS === I don't know Teresa and she certainly doesn't know me. I am simply an enthusiastic follower of her blog and thought that these two posts might be of special interest to some of the more advanced bakers on TFL.

This is what I made for myself of all the things that I have learned so far.  I'm finding that there's a huge amount of information from various sources, all with spoon-fed amounts of usefulness.  So, here's my attempt to help others out there, whomever might actually find this.  Please note that my use of the word "yeast" means the brewer's instant yeast, and starter means the friendly creatures (or "the fish", as it is called in our home) that are cultivated from flour and water.  The numbered parts are all of the steps to actual bread making that I've found out.  I'm just now gleaning information about the preferment/poolish step (just learned a few weeks ago about the existence of such a step, and was relieved to find that "sponge" "poolish" "pate fermente" are all the same thing phew).  Here is basically what I've learned in the past four years:

EQUIPMENT    scale, oven peel/large spatula, unglazed quarry tiles or baking stone, measuring spoons/cups, bowls, wooden spoons, towels for bread, thin long stemmed thermometer to HIGH temperature

ABOUT STARTER

Not rigid method. Repeatedly successful recipes can fail.

Use variables to gain some control and predictability.

Variables include-- time, temperature, humidity, water quality, dough density/hydration

Use scientific method---only change one variable at a time

Starter bread characteristics:  large irregular holes, crumb, structure;  spreads, advantages (can make starter yourself, doesn't need extra food in the recipe, more room for creativity, ability to do more with texture and flavor, English Muffins, French bread), disadvantages (rise time less predictable, needs help to keep shape, needs to be tended and fed)

Starter eats flour, doesn’t eat sugar.  Any sugar in recipe you will end up eating yourself

Yeast bread characteristics—small crumb, regular small holes, less notable structure), tends to rise not spread, advantages (more predictable rise time, not need fed), disadvantages (cannot make yeast yourself, needs food added to recipe, flavor is entirely in the recipe--little creativity, has to be degassed)

MAKING STARTER

½ c whole grain flour with ¼ c water (equal weight).  Keep in glass or stainless steel with lid

Watch for life signs (bubbles) after 12 hours, if no signs for a few days, start over (check water quality)

Check the PH of your water---should be neutral or slightly acidic….basic is no good for starter. Add fruit juice or citric acid if needed

Feed when life signs, every 12 hours:  throw out ½ amount in there.  Put in exact same amount flour in there as in there already, plus ½ that in water (or equal weight of both)

*change container often*

Recommended stainless steel, glass, or glazed ceramic containers with lids (to keep bugs and children out, and moisture in)  starter reacts to most metals

After 3 days of consistent rising and falling, switch to white flour (to avoid bad critters)

Will smell like fish, should change to wheaty smell

After 1 week of consistent doubling, ok to use

Only use small amount of old starter to new starter (Tablespoon at most), keep discarding/baking—do not keep….ends up being a sponge not a starter

Note peak and fall times   starter:flour:water

Recommended 1:2:1 once a week feed fridge always, keeping Tablespoon amount or so

Once get good, can keep different teaspoon sized starters for each type of bread (CHEF)

More flavor=more time between feedings

1 PREPARE STARTER

Called preferment, sponge, poolish, bigas, levaine, pate fermentee (all the same)

Develops flavor, texture, lighter bigger air

More sour, more acid, longer shelf life

Note peak and fall times

Recommended 8-12 hours before dough mixing/kneading, 25% of total dough (so subtract from recipe flour and water used)

Add to bread at peak time

More starter % in bread, less proof time---acidity breaks down gluten

2 AUTOLYSE AND MIXING

Mix flour, water and poolish together, let rest five minutes or so (keeps from adding too much flour, and helps in kneading)

Most variable amounts are water and flour (coarse/fine ground flour, humidity, etc)

Set aside CHEF

Starter eats flour, doesn’t eat sugar.  Any sugar in recipe you will end up eating

oil--lending or not lending its flavor depends on recipe

Do NOT add salt directly to starter—mix in flour as a buffer first to keep starter alive

Do NOT use iodized salt—iodine becomes a gas in the oven—messes up your bread

3 KNEADING

-helps prevent too much flour being added--easier to add flour than water

-Palm push quarter turn only good for FLAT breads like pie crust, crackers

*Stretch&Fold:  adds air and builds structure—gluten sheath.  Also called French Kneading, or Slap Happy, etc.  Take the dough; slap the furthest side away from you down on the counter and away, while drawing the nearer side towards you.  Taking the nearer side in your palms (do not break, draw evenly like drafting wool) draw up and over further side, stretching sideways under and around, making a heart shape almost.  Make sure while you are drawing the dough over the further side to incorporate a nice big air bubble.  Turn the dough over and a quarter turn around (flip and turn like clockwise/counterclockwise).  Repeat.  Should change in feel and look—it will begin to pull dough off the counter and fingers.  Only dust the counter with flour if large pieces of dough are sticking—you want it to be tacky.  Shoot for 20 minutes of kneading. 

-Windowpane test—dough stretches between fingers fine enough to let light through without breaking

4 BULK FERMENTATION

Do not let ferment on pan---acidity tarnishes pans

Use oil to keep from sticking (using flour at this stage creates flour dumplings inside your bread)

Use heat during winter to help, especially in the North—direct heat ok at this step  70-90 degrees F optimal

Stretch and fold at least every thirty minutes to keep gluten structure from relaxing, and to distribute temperature evenly (fermentation heats up dough) S&F twice minimum during this stage

For smaller crumb, deflate while S&F

Bigger holes, keep as much air as possible

5 SHAPING AND PROOFING

This is the stage to choose your shape:  boule, baguette, loaf, braid, rolls, etc.  A shape doesn’t define a recipe, a recipe enhances the shape.  (good recipe, good rolls, etc)

Do not let proof on pan---acidity tarnishes pans

Starter spreads---need to use something to help.  Linen towels with flour method, proofing trays/counters, baskets heavily floured, etc.

use flour to keep from sticking--lightly

Do NOT use direct heat source (like oven light) to keep warm --creates a second crust that will not fill

Harder crust---use towel and let dry out to create a rind

Softer crust—let proof in moist environment (covered with bowl, etc)

More starter % in bread, less proof time---acidity breaks down gluten

Overproofing---when bread collapses---gluten stretched too far and cannot recover (make toast!)

Ready for oven:  when you poke it, it fills back your fingerprint but not all of the way

6 BAKING

Use flour on baking pan to keep bread from sticking (oil fries the bread and usually sticks)

Oven spring—put in already hot oven.  Oven high temp for 5 minutes, then lower temperature for optimal oven spring (example 450 degrees F, lower to 425 or 415)

Baking stone acts as heat sink to increase oven spring, can use unglazed quarry tiles---ALWAYS put into cold oven and let heat up and cool down with the oven (or break)

Slashing loaves a way to make the oven spring more predictable.  If bulges out near tray---temperature different in pan and air, etc.

Harder crust—spray dough with water right before putting in oven.  Do NOT steam oven directly if electronic---it will destroy oven entirely

Internal temperature 204 degrees F and above best indicator of doneness.  Cutting open stops the cool pressure cooker effect of the inside.  Thump test does NOT work.

If bread fell or didn’t bake well, make toast immediately

7 STORING

Sourdough:  Store in paper bag and bread cabinet if have one.  Fridge hastens going stale, Plastic keeps too much moisture

If bread contains milk products (milk, lots of butter or sourcream), or has a lot of moisture and sugar (cornbread or banana bread prime example of both), keep in fridge.  They only last about 2 days before going bad : (

Sourdough: make toast if going stale or out too long.  Bread should last for about 4 days, unless quick pour sugary breads like banana bread.

The Auvergne Crown or Couronne shaped loaf, typically made from yeasted white bread dough, can be seen in almost every boulangerie throughout France. When I go to my local boulangerie it is displayed on the rack in the typical round shape along with an epi cut. What separates this Auvergne Crown from all the others is the use of the traditional firm French sourdough, levain, and a long slow rise that gives the wheat time to develop its full potential.  Although this is a simple white dough, this thick crusted bread has an unexpected flavor and quality.  I found the best way to eat this is to just tear off a piece…it exposes a crumb that is riddled with many different sized holes....

To read the full post come and visit Weekendloafer.com 

So I've read that sometimes people add salt to soakers to constrain certain enzyme activity. Here's a post that taks about a lot of those specifics: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17415/baguettes-l039ancienne-cold-retardation. From what I understand, you would only want to add salt to a soaker if it contains flour, not just seeds.

My question is wouldn't it make sense then to add salt to overnight autolyses? I've been working with Don D's baguette formula specifically lately: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17415/baguettes-l039ancienne-cold-retardation

I corrected a mistake in water measurement recently and ended up with a result that I'd never have expected. I've been baking for 34 years with considerable attention to focaccia for the last eight years. My favorite, every week, recipe is much like Peter Reinhart's BBA. I mix the flour, water, and yeast, and autolyse for about an hour before adding salt and olive oil.

Recently, I scaled my recipe up for a newer, bigger pan and was lazy. I did the calculations in my head and shorted the 75% hydration by about 50g. I realized the mistake about half way through the autolyse. I figured I'd just the extra water at the salt addition: not ideal but not a terrible correction. As I measured the additional water I thought: why not dissolve the salt in the water before mixing?

This tiny change was a shock. The mixing dough was extremely sloppy at first (no surprise) but was absorbed all of a sudden like a sponge. The resulting dough was the smoothest, firmest, high-hyration dough I've ever handled. When I baked it the crumb had the most even, bigger than average holes that I've ever produced. The crust was not tough and the flavor was sweet and moist. A fluke?

For the next several weeks I alternated back and forth between my normal method and dissolving the salt in the water. This is not a fluke and is completely reproducible. I have dozens of bread cookbooks and don't recall dissolving salt in the water and adding after mixing. I'm sure I didn't invent this but the results are quite remarkable.

Does anyone have an insight to the chemistry of this (assuming that it is not my imagination!)?

Story goes that I've been baking for ages, first scones and muffins, then eventually graduating to bread and finally cookies (which I always used to burn; no idea why), but today, right now, I'm making my first French bread. I'm using the recipe herein entitled "My Daily Bread," and things are going relatively swimmingly. Or so I hope. I have a few questions concerning general processes.

First: using the autolyse method with this recipe seemed a bit futile. When I mixed 1 pound of whole wheat flour with 10 oz of water, I got a really dry dough. It wouldn't even stick together. I checked my measurements again and again - I convered 1 pound of flour to 3.5 cups, and the 10 oz of water to 1.25 cups. What I wound up doing to reconcile my mind and my dough was to add the poolish to the pre-autolysed mixture. This seemed to work okay...we'll find out when the bread is actually done.

Second: I had quite the time with the order of adding ingredients. So you make the autolyse with the flour and water, but that was too much flour, so I added the poolish, but then when to add the yeast and the salt? I wound up sprinkling salt over the top of the autolyse, and then adding the yeast to about an ounce of water five minutes before adding to the dough. This resulted in a wet and sticky monster, and I didn't know what to do. So...

Third: kneading. After the creation of the monster, I decided that the best way to incorporate the yeast mixture and the salt would be to knead the dough. So I glopped it out onto the countertop (covered in flour, of course) and kneaded it well. I think. I don't know how long I kneaded it - probably only about two minutes or so. Was I even supposed to knead it? I have no idea. The recipe mentions no such tomfoolery. And if, but some strange twist of fate, I was supposed to knead it, did I not knead it enough? Does it not matter so early in the proceedings? Or should I panic?

Now my dough is cheerfully in its first hour of primary fermentation, and I am fretting, naturally. It seems like a rather odd time to ask such questions, then, certainly, seeing as it's pretty smoothe sailing from here on out (or if not smoothe, at least a done deal), but I intend to make this again over the weekend, this time as an addition to a meal I've been invited to by my boyfriend's mother. It's a family gathering of theirs. This could be wildly idiotic, for me to aspire to such heights right out of the barrel, but I'd like to give it a try, this time less iffily than these first gimp loaves will probably be.

We'll see. Thanks for any advice or answers - they are greatly appreciated.

Kate

I was planning on making donD's baguette with 12 hour cold autolyse for a dinner tonight. Unfortunately I am spending the night at my daughters and left the bread at home which means it will have a 24 hour autolyse and Short bulk fermentation. My question is...is there any hope for this bread?should I do something to help it or do I just throw together a straight dough?

I learned a few things last week that I should have known but learning them because they happen to be the only way you get something done tends to stick more in ones mind.

I wanted to bake some of the Essential Columbia in Maggie Glazer's book.  It is one of my favorite breads (a staple in my freezer) and one that i do fairly often. This last baking turned out four of the most perfect loaves i have ever done and, since a friend repeated my methods with the same results, I feel confident sharing. The interesting thing is that I wound up doing what I did because i had to in order to fit the baking into an otherwise hectic schedule.

Note: I wont repeat the recipe since it is easy to find in Glazer's book.

I had just refreshed my 100% starter a few times. It was very healthy. It was Friday night and I knew that i had a small window to bake (or even mess with the dough) on Sunday Morning. I planned on a double recipe to get 4 loaves. So ... on Saturday at 6:00 AM I made the firm starter from the 100% starter. I left for a day away from home but the starter worked on the kitchen counter (about 70 degrees) until i got home at 4:00PM. It was nice and expanded. At 4:30PM I mixed the other flour and water (only) and left them to autolyse, again at about 70 degrees.  I went right off to an event and got home at 9:30PM. That's a LONG autolyse. But I had no choice. The firm starter was now about 15 hours old and bubbly even if it was a firm starter. Too Long? Nah.  I mixed the autolysed dough, the firm starter and the few other ingredients in my stand mixer for 8 minutes on low. The gluten was great. I watched a bit of TV until 10:30 and then did one single session of as many folds as the glutenous dough would allow -- 5 or 6.  I then put the dough into a plastic container with its lid on and put it out into the 50-55 degree garage. The next morning at 7:00AM the dough was beautifully doubled. 

I shaped it, using both the baguette letter fold with the filone roll at the ends, into fat battards  (using my linen-lined plastic fish-n-chips baskets as baneltons) and did a second rise for 2 hours. My slashes (one per loaf) were very shallow and from end to end at about 2 o'clock cross section .  I baked it at 450 rather than 400. Voila! Perfecto! Great oven spring. Ballooned up to be round in cross section and with a terrific crumb. Oh, tastes great too.

So ... if I had a LOT of time I would not have given either my firm starter nor the autolysing dough nearly the time it deserved and the long overnight cool rise helped a bunch too. Actually, this was a great schedule for baking this bread and the results were amazing ... yah, I know, show me the picts. Sorry, take my word for it. But, I will not now be in nearly the same rush as I had been in the past. I will also say that the only "prime" time i spent on this bread was the baking at 10:00AM.  Everything else was at a "no-conflict "time with the rest of my life.

Is it wise to autolyse?

Okay, enough of that but my question is this;

Is it a good idea to utilize the autolyse method for each and every type of bread? What types of textures/changes happen if used and not used? I've recently been using autolyse on every bread at work, and I am liking some of the results.

These are some types of breads that I would like to know if its a good choice to autolyse, for example;

Rye Breads, Sourdough Breads, Breads utlizing soakers / mashes, Breads heavy in seeds, nuts, grains, or cheeses, Crusty lean white breads, with and without an open crumb, Rich Breads, and the list can go on and on.