July 4, 2016 - 1:36am
Numbers (and frequency) of stretch and folds
Hello!
How do you guys determine how many S&F to do for a particular dough? Some recipes call for 4 S&F over 3 hours, some do the same over 2 hours, or even up to 6 S&F in that interval.
So what are the implications of the various options?
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...how much force you use (especially the stretching bit) and so on. It takes practice to get it right. This is one area where experience trumps a recipe. Once you get used to the feel of a well-developed dough you know when to stop. Some bakers do lots of very gentle S+Fs, others a few but more powerful S+F. The latter is riskier because you can tear the dough, undoing all your good work. I tend to knead to a moderate gluten development then switch to S+F during the bulk fermentation. I find it give me the best control over the dough, but I have to emphasise that what works for me doesn't necessarily work for anyone else.
If I were attempting a new recipe I would follow it to the letter and see what the outcome is since it obviously worked for the baker who published it. If it didn't work too well, I'd then repeat it, adjusting to see where I went wrong and where I could improve.
There are some good online videos of different S+F techniques by big-name bakers. Search for Ken Forkish on YouTube, I think Ciril Hitz has one too, as does Peter Reinhardt and Richard Bertinet. All do it differently but they all produce great bread.
Most of time 3 S&F's will do the trick, 20 minutes apart. When your dough gets tighter, harder to stretch, you are about done with stretch and folds. Then I move in to tension tugs to tighten up my dough for final shaping. If I see little blisters starting to show in the skin of my boule, I'm done! I put it in the banneton and give it a cold ferment overnight in the fridge.