April 21, 2020 - 1:32am
Is it okay to let your dough autolyse for more than an hour?
Hello there,
I just mixed my levain and put it in a warm place. It´s supposed to be there for 6 hours. I´m going by a recipe that instructs you to mix your dough and let it autolyse for about an hour before the levain is ready.
Now, I´m a bit worried that my levain peaks before the 6 hour mark and it falls again before my dough is done autolysing.
Is that even much of a problem? If it is, is it okay to mix my dough earlier and let it autolyse longer?
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So the way i understand it is that you should be fine. The enzymes that are formed in an autolyse are: protease - which forms the proteins to make gluten and amalyse - which builds sugars. These two enzymes wont peak nor will they diminish (well maybe over a very extended period of time). Just the longer the period of autolyse the more of the flour has become fully hydrated. Some basic recipes say 40 mins, more extensive say 4-5 hours. I do notice a difference in elasticity in the dough the longer i autoylase, making it easy to work with and neigh on impossible to tear. I would add your leavin at its pea, as long as the dough had at least 2 hours to autolyse.
Someone who knows more can school me i am sure.
Hope this helps
Thanks a lot! This is really helpful!
Something I forgot to ask is, should I let my dough autolyse in a cool or warm place?
Autolyse is a term that is sometimes used in different ways, but in the 'correct' sense means to mix together just the flour and water for the main dough (no salt, no levain) and let it stand for a while. During this time the enzymes in the flour start to work, digesting some of the gluten. This makes the dough more extensible, and increases the rate at which water is absorbed.
As autolyse is therefore a chemical rather than biological process; and it is fine to do at whatever temperature you like (within reason). However, be careful. At higher temperatures it will work MUCH FASTER and the longer you autolyse, the more the gluten level in the dough will be affected - so autolysing a weak (low-protein) flour for a long time will give you a poor structure and rise.
Higher extraction (more wholewheat) flours can stand a longer autolyse, but for all-white or low-protein flours it's best not to autolyse for too long.
Personally I do autolyse with fairly hot water, just to warm up the dough so the levain gets off to a quick start - but I usually only do so for about 40 minutes.
Also be careful about putting your levain somewhere warm for a few hours before using it: by doing so you will promote LAB activity and depress yeast activity, so you will end up with a more sour taste (although this may be what you want)
I was under the impression that you are hydrating the dough in order to create the two enzymes amalyse and protease? The two bad boys that break down proteins and turns starch into sugars respectively - which then create glutens in the bulk fermentation process? So your gluten levels are not really going to be affected by this greatly, moreover the quality of the glutens that are created and broken down (especially for prooving longer). How long you talking here? I thought you could go 3-4 hours?
Interesting thinking it as a chemical process and not a biological one, so the temperature is somewhat redundant to the quality, moreover the time it takes? That aspect would be affected in a biological process as well though right? so I suppose it does kind of matter either way. Cold enough and nothing will happen, hot enough and well, it just cooks.
I do a luke warm autolyse for 2-3 hours. Some people say as little as 15 mins.
Do what gets you the best results, the science is happening either way.
In my experience levain will stay at maximum for several hours so I wouldn’t worry much about that. In fact I find bread dough is often forgiving of timing errors, sloppy measurement and clumsiness, even though we strive to plan well and perform accurately.
As for the autolyze length, one hour seems to be fairly typical recommendation but I have several times now made dmsnyder’s version of Parisian baker Phillip Gosselin’s baguettes which starts with an overnight refrigerated autolyze that begins with mixing the flour with ice water! The results are always great. Another example of conventional wisdom or standard practice being sufficient but not necessarily optimum in all situations. No idea how Gosselin got to ice water and refrigerated autolyze but I’m sure he had reasons. This is yet another example of how flexible bread is as a medium. It also reminds us that there’s more than one way to skin a cat or make a loaf of delicious bread.
Cheers,
Phil