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Submitted by rainwater on March 21, 2009 - 10:59am I stumbled on something....I think?One of my sourdough "go to" recipes is the "Poilane Miche" in the "Bread Baker's Apprentice". ..but i've really changed this recipe quite a bit.....the recipe is there as a guideline. I recently started to "autolyse" the dough overnight in tandem with the "Solid Starter" in the recipe. My "Solid Starter" is @75% hydration, and my "Autolyse" is @75% hydration. This is a bit more hydration than the recipe calls for. Well, last night, I substituted milk for half of the total water in the recipe for my autolyse.......I had a surprise waiting for me when I came home from work to start my bread.....the "Autolyse" which had been sitting on the counter @24 hours had doubled in size.....as if it had been leavened. I made this particular dough with the autolyse, solid starter, olive oil, honey, sunflower seeds, and a majority portion of unbleached white flour. The dough is so smooth and silky......it windowpaned rather quickly for me.....I usually don't window pane, but I wanted to check this dough since it was so smooth....... Have I stumbled on to something with the milk in the autolyse??? ...or is this one of those things everyone already knew? We'll see how the bread turns out. The first rising/fermentation already seems to be a little faster than usual.....?
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Curious
You've made me curious... what kind of milk? what kind of flour in the "Autolyse"? Your Autolyse behavior sounds like that of a poolish (or whatever a 75% hydration preferment is called), but there wan't any yeast?
response
I used King Arthur "Unbleached Bread Flour" in the autolyse, and used whole "organic" milk from Whole Foods market. 75% hydration means that the liquid weight equalled three fourths the weight of the flour. example: if you had 10 oz. of flour, you would use 7.5 oz. of water...
I substituted milk for half the liquid......honestly.....I'm not sure this is a "great" method yet. The bread turned out terrific.....really good.....but I had fears of the milk turning the dough sour, which it didn't, but it could be possible on another day......
The bread is really tasty though....and very soft for a loaf with a high percentage of whole wheat. Here is what it looked like....this was a little more hydration than the recipe called for......I'm going to experiment more with this milk in the aurolyse.....I think I'll put the autolyse in the refrigerator overnight, and put it on the counter top before leaving for work in the morning...see what happens.....
Terminology
To avoid any confusion, from TFL's Handbook glossary:
If you place the mixed dough in the refrigerator overnight, you are retarding the dough during the final fermentation.
Doubling
My assumption is that the sugars furnished by the milk accelerated fermentation - something that plain water just doesn't do.
Bingo
The milk contributes lactose, which I don't believe will "ferment" like sucrose or other fruit / vegetable sugars. If anything, the lactose would offset the flavors of the starter a wee bit. I believe it is the other elements of the milk (oils and acids) which are contributing to a condition of elasticity, enhancing the creaminess of the dough.
You will see the same effect possibly by adding sour cream or yogurt diluted to same quantity, but the flavor will remain tarter (by a notch). In other words, instead of 1 cup of milk, use 2-3 tablespoons of sour cream or yogurt and dilute to 1 cup.
BTW, adding the milk will not pose a "souring" threat at room temp. All those starches and yeasties in the mix overpower the bacterial souring which may happen only if leaving the dough at room temp for a significant period.
Nice lookin' loaf.