inclusions question by beginner professional baker
Just set up bakery in my garage (2-deck oven, 60 qt. mixer etc.). I have a question about incorporating inclusions into my dough. In my amateur days I incorporated the inclusions into my dough by hand after or during my 2d stretch/fold.
I work with high(er) hydration doughs (~80%) with wild yeast leavening. I achieve a short mix on the mixer, autolyse for 30-45 mins, incorporate levain and salt, then split the dough into bins (3 x 16 kilo) for fermentation and stretch/fold.
I did my incorporations by hand for my first batches, but it seemed I was manhandling the dough to get if fully incorporated, and I don't think I did a particularly good job, plus it was hard/time consuming. However the bread came out really good.
Other options may be (i) put the dough + inclusions back onto the mixer instead of 2d stretch/fold, but somehow this seems less than desirable; (ii) develop the dough a bit further (e.g., to improved) initially on the mixer and do the inclusion at that time on the mixer, then split the dough into bins for long fermentation and (maybe) 1 stretch/fold before divide/shaping. I'm not sure what to think about (ii). In theory I've developed the strength on the mixer so more stretch/folds would not be needed to develop strength, but I'm concerned that the long fermentation (3 hours) may provide too much strength to the dough.
Any thoughts and guidance would be greatly appreciated.
I put them in right at the beginning of the autolyse and so far, I haven't noticed any negative aspects to this. You could try this for inclusions that don't risk falling apart in the mixer like nuts and seeds. For more delicate add-ins like dried fruit, I would probably put them in at the end of your second mix cycle where you add the salt and the levain. Just a couple of options to think about.
Totally agree. I've tried both ways, and mixing during folds doesn't work well for me, whereas mixing my soakers during the initial mix (as per Hamelman) has worked well, including the added advantage of breaking of the already softened soaker grains.
When I do a big (for me, that's more than four) batch with inclusions, I either add everything in all at once (as I do with my cheese & onion bread) right at the beginning, then just mix until the dough is developed, or I add them in with the salt after a 30 minute rest (not really autolyse as I usually add the levain to the water, then mix in the flour). Come to think of it, I also do it this way with small batches, I just do those ones in the smaller mixer instead of in Max (30 quart Univex). I hate folding stuff in to partially-developed dough.
That sounds like a nice way to get to work. Method 2 sounds like a good idea, if it can work, just cause it's less labor on you.
I've never had this directly but I've read some add-ins can have a negative effect on development, cause they cut into the gluten strands - so some early mixing and then add-ins may not overdevelop the way you might think.
If you are adding raisins, cheese and other soft stuff I would add it after the bulk fermentation, if these are added to dough when you still have lot of mechanical mixing to do it'll break it up beyond recognition. I have experience with raisins turning the dough into grey mess after walking away from the mixer for a few minutes. I think seeds and nuts are able to withstand more mixing action.
Gerhard