Novice questions about Stretch and Fold in a Bowl (how can one tell when the dough has finished proofing) and oil in bread dough
Hi all.
My very first post on this great site and I just have to take the opportunity to say "Thank You" for such well crafted informations and good hearted people who are willing to give them. I learnt really a lot and it made a very noticable improvement on my baking experience which is great because I am suffering from several intolerances and medical conditions and I am quite limited in what I can eat which is one of the reasons why I have to bake bread and "buns" myself with spelt flour.
Okay enough of that. Yesterday I completely changed the way I baked my bread- basically taking in so many tips posted here: Calculated and checked the dough temperature (DDT), used autolysis, made two S&Fs in a bowl, checked and passed the windowpane test, baked for a specific core temperature and so on. And for the first time my dough (actually both of them) passed the windowpane test and the resulting bread was noticable superior. YES! :-) Unfortunately one of my doughs was slightly over proven. I found it hard to figure out when the dough was finished proofing because it was hard to tell when it had doubled in size due to my S&Fs. Is there a secret to it that I missed? Is there a different way to check for a dough's readiness? Using a finger to pinch the dough doesn't work well because being a spelt based dough, it is sticky.
Oh and one more thing: I'm putting 2% oil in my dough just to add some more calories actually because I am quite skinny. Also I like the slight flavor it adds. But I am wondering if this is such a good idea in the first place and if it doesn't actually hurt the dough's consistency and texture. What I am trying to achieve is a bread with a soft and creamy texture that has no open crumb (more dense, less pores but soft). I read somewhere that it made a huge difference if one used oil, margarine or even shortening. I would really appreciate any help on this.
By the way, being from Germany, I only use fresh yeast and I mix type 630 and type 1050 spelt flour in a 1:1 ratio resulting in 812-ish type.
Thanks again,
matthias