Starting over
My mixer is on the fritz and while I have hand kneaded, I've just never been too fond of it. I know, I'm a heretic.
Anyway, about the time my mixer croaked, I came across Bertinet's slap and fold method. I've since used the method a couple of times. Today I tweaked a light whole wheat recipe. It had 70.65% water and about 6.5% melted butter. The freshly milled red whole wheat was 43.5% of the total flour with bread flour being the rest (56.5%). I used instant yeast in this bread.
The water content was that high because during initial mixing I thought I needed more water. Perhaps not. Anyway, the dough came together albeit a bit tackier than normal. Window pane test was my best yet. I let it bulk rise without any further attention to the dough. When shaping, the dough was very supple and still tacky but I could easily work it. The resulting loaves rose nicely, had great oven spring and feel soft just out of the oven.
I haven't cut into them yet but after reading things on this site I'm left wondering what the impact would have been if I had introduced some folds during the bulk rise. Are folds needed if the dough is adequately kneaded?
water content was very low - not high. I would have been at least 75% hydration to be able to get these home milled flours wet enough to slap and fold. It must have been a pretty stiff with 3 slaps to 1 fold at 72% hydration ( including the 20% water in the butter). I just did a 100% white pizza dough yesterday at 70% hydration and it was 2 slaps to 1 fold:-) Doing some stretch and folds after slap and folds as it ferments on the counter is something i nearly always - usually to fold in all the add ins and keep the gluten where it should be. I don't like to handle the dough much once it gets 2 hours past mixing in of the levain or poolish and salt with the autolyse.
I really don't use my mixer for any kind of bread except panettone and i'mnot using it for that this year.
Not stiff at all. It was a sticky mess. But I persevered and it took shape. I had 46 ounces of flour and 32.5 ounces of water and 3 ounces of melted butter. Normally this recipe is about 65% hydration. Yeah, the fresh milled stuff is a bit thirstier. But this was wet. Normally my doughs by hand are not tacky or sticky. Lot's of flour. I'm trying things a bit different this time.
hydration. So how was the crumb? With no further stretch and folds I would think it was fairly open. I think you should take it up to 78% hydration and see what a wet dough with 43% whole grains feels like. It starts out a sticky mess but after 6 minutes of slap and folds or until the dough stops sticking to the counter. Then do a 20 minute rest followed by another minute of slap and folds with another 20 minute rest then do another minute of slap and folds. At the end the dough will be smooth as can be - a bit tacky but with a little flour on the hands it won't stick but it will make a wonderful windowpane. Shape and put in the fridge for 12-18 hours of proof. Once you get used to wet dough you will never go back. It is one of the keys to making really great bread.
Happy baking
I have found that when I make bread it does not follow with the results I would expect. A wet dough with a tight crumb. This dough also rises in an hour or less. I began the bread at about 4:45pm and it was wrapped up and put away by 9pm. I put around 20 ounces of dough into 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" pans. I also was gentle with the dough when shaping. So it should be an open crumb. I only tend to get that with sourdough.
It could be something in the way I mix things together. I like what I end up with.
you don't like kneading (and frankly I'm not a big fan of it either - just way too much work) you might try the "fold in the bowl" method. This takes a bowl, a plastic bowl scraper, and most importantly, time.
Use your plastic scraper to bring together all of your ingredients in the bowl. You should work the dough to the point where all the flour is moistened and you have a "shaggy mass." Then walk away for about 20-30 mins. When you return, you will find some gluten development has taken place, but take your scraper, lift up the far edge of the mass and fold it towards you with a bit of vigor. Turn the bowl and repeat about 20 times. Then walk away for about 20-30 mins. Repeat this process 2-3 times until you get the dough development you want. You will see how beautifully the dough develops if you just give it time. mcs has a nice video of making brioche this way, so let me assure you it works for all kinds of dough. I have done 9 pounds of dough this way in a really big bowl, when I didn't have the right mixer handy. Takes elapsed time, but very little physical effort or work time. Because there is very little oxidation, the crumb has a beautiful color.
A colleague and I used this method to make some wonderful baguettes and then almost immediately were in a venue where we were told to use "slap and fold." Slap and fold works great, but we got a little whiney about how much work it was. But, we were really tired. I would only use slap and fold if I were under a time constraint.
Anyway, when you have a bulk ferment of two hours or more, it always helps to do a fold. Back in the day, we used to call this "punching down" and it serves more than adding to dough development. It helps degas the fermenting dough and redistribute the yeast and its food so that fermentation can occur better. It also is your second to last chance to judge the dough development and adjust if needed (you will get somewhat of a lesser opportunity during pre shape, and truth be told an even lesser opportunity during shaping, but really you want to get it right at bulk fermentation). Lots of "stuff" can happen during bulk ferment and it's always good to have the chance to evaluate and adjust the dough development. If the dough is "perfectly" developed, you can use gentle folds to degas and distribute. If it seems to be lacking, more vigorous folds will add to it.
Oh, and depending on the dough (which from your partial formula seems to be an enriched dough) even with whole wheat you had plenty of water. Yes, one can always go higher, but wetter is not always better.
Hope this helps.
Had you kneaded the way you say and folded it during bulk, I'm not sure you would have seen much difference, perhaps a slightly more regular crumb maybe a higher rising loaf. You'd already well developed the gluten with a decent kneading time, so the folding wouldn't have added much to the dough.
If you're not a fan of kneading then I'd try the stretch and fold style, where you mix the dough till just combined and S&F a few times during bulk. It will significantly reduce the amount of hand kneading you have to do, it should also cut down on dough oxidisation compared to your machine kneaded dough and thus have a creamier crumb that has more flavour.
bread experience, just do a no knead recipe when, after mixing, you just leave it in the bowl and do nothing to it after about 12 hours on the counter or 24 hours in the fridge. Then shape it, do a final proof and bake it. No knead white bread recipes start at 78% hydration and with your very thirsty 43% whole grains you are going to want 85% for no knead. More water means larger holes but with 43% whole grains, large holes are relative anyway. It is too hot in my kitchen to do no knead on the counter.
for some enriched (milk, egg and butter) 46% home milled whole grain rolls that were at 80.5% hydration. I assumed the milk was water, the butter at 20% water with the egg at 70% water. 6 minutes of slap and folds were done before it stopped sticking on the counter. 20 minute rest and 1 minute more of slap and folds with another 20 minute rest and then 20 slaps per each fold - 10 folds total. The gluten was perfect with a fine windowpane but we will also do 3 sets of stretch and folds over 20 minute intervals from the compass points only during the net hour as it ferments. Then shaping, bagging putting them in the fridge overnight for a retarded final proof.
I wouldn't want to do less water for this recipe.
Happy Baking
It sounds like the dough is watching an exercise video. I'll be experimenting with all this and hydration in the weeks to come. I believe I will be making some sourdough this weekend and it's usually wetter dough.