some issues with my WW sandwich (how to autolyse? crust tearing and baking)
So, around two years ago i decided to start making my own breads and found this amazing website... since then i've been trying to perfect my home made Whole Wheat bread with added sesame and either poppy or linen seeds.
took me about a year to really get the hang of it and i settled on some kind of method and regime. (which i detailed below but now realize is a lot of info that has not much to do with my questions so i think it's better if i ask first and just leave it down there for reference if anyone is interested to go into the detail, which would of course be much appreciated)
so basically i'm thinking of incorporating an autolyse into my regime, i tried it before but found it very hard to incorporate everything i was putting into the dough... i don't have a machine, i do everything by hand and it's hard enough work as it is managing a 2.5kg dough!
so i'm wondering what would be a good way to incorporate a biga and all the rest of the ingredients like salt and dry yeast into an autolyse WW dough, i'm guessing it's ok to autolyse the dough with the sesame seeds already inside right? (one less thing to add later)... also what's the deal with salt and the autolyse, i don't quite understand when or if to add it to a WW autolyse?!
another thing that's nagging me is that my crusts always tear from one side... i don't make a cut because even when i do it still does that. i don't know if i'm putting too much dough into these pans or if my technique is bad or what... i'm pretty sure its all of it together but i don't know what to do... my shaping of late has gotten better but still i'm not sure what i'm doing is actually supposed to go in a pan...
and as for the baking, i used to put some water right at the start to create steam but as of late i'm starting to think that maybe having that much bread all at once is enough humidity as it is (in all honesty there wasn't much difference this way or that) my crusts have never been amazing but lately are not so bad either *that is to say there is A crust you might actually call a crust hehe....
i bake 4 loaves at a time about once every two weeks (for the wife and my self) that's about all my freezer can handle
my recipe goes more or less like this (sometimes i'd use a little less gluten rich and more whole wheat...)
1.5kg flour 100%
1050g WholeWheat 70%
450g Gluten Rich Wheat flour 30%
1050g water (70% hydration)
27G salt
27g dry yeast
35g Olive oil
60g sesame
and some linen seeds added when shaping the loaves
i usually make a biga from 300g WW and 1.2 g of dry yeast at 80% hydration (240g) and let it sit for about 3 hours or so.
i then mix it in after all the dry materials have been mixed into the remaining flour by cutting it into the smallest pieces i can before adding the remainder of my water and oil mixing and kneading for a while, usually at this stage i end up adding flour because it's too sticky... then i give it 2 or 3 stretch and folds spread about 10 to 15 minutes apart and leave it for the bulk fermentation.
sometimes on cold days when i have time i degas and let it rise again
and lastly i cut it into four pre shape into a tube let rest for 5 minutes and then flatten spread the seeds, roll and put into the pan (i got 3 cheap metal pans and 1 big glass pan) for the final proofing (where i let it grow about 30% more... where the dough is already peeking out of the pan)
i then put it in the preheated oven on max (gas oven on gas mark 6) for 20 minutes and then lower to gas mark 4 for around 30 minutes more.
all in all i'm very pleased with my outcome usually so either way im happy but any and all help will be most appreciated, thanks!
Guy