February 7, 2020 - 12:23am
Autolyse - how long
Hello all. A little help please. I usually Autolyse last thing at night, thus leaving it overnight. I then start the sourdough making process first thing in the morning getting to bake it in the late afternoon. I keep my wet starter in the fridge. I fed it a couple of days ago - it foamed up nicely, but this morning it failed the float test.
My question is - can I leave my dough [flour & water] to Autolyse for another 24 hrs?
Thanks for reading
Share
Typically you wouldn't leave an autolyse for that long as it might actual begin fermenting. On really long autolyses some people will even add the salt in to the autolyse to slow down microbial activity.
The float test isn't the end all be all of whether your culture is ready to use. Also you may want to consider a feeding schedule that has you giving it a few good refreshes closer to your actual mix time. You may end up with a little more discard but culture health is top priority when it comes to making good bread.
According to the FCI in Fundamental Techniques.... autolyse is flour and water only, usually no more than 30 minutes to fully hydrate the starches and proteins. “yeast would acidify the dough and salt would tighten it” p.59. For an enriched dough (eggs, fat, milk, butter,) or sugar nuts or fruits- don’t bother (p.66)