May 18, 2009 - 9:29pm
Dough folding
I want to ask a question about folding. I understand you fold the dough to strengthen the gluten and to minimize the amount of mixing. But what should I be looking for in the dough that would indicate how many times to fold it? I seems to me that even 1/2 fold will have a big impact on the end result but I just don't know why I would want to do 1/2, 1, or even multiple folds to the dough. I would sincerely appreciate if any of you can help clarify this for me.
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The autolyse (or sponge rest, or whatever it's called when it has yeast and salt) is an important part of the technique when you use stretch and fold instead of kneading. According to something I read on this site, the rest period was an old technique that had fallen into disuse and Clavel brought it back. Perhaps your mother-in-law's practice came from an older tradition?
Thanks for adding that important point!
Patricia
somehow she just figured it out probably because she had 4 boys and a girl in 8 years. One day it just happened--not a child, I doubt that was the result of autolyse--but the technique owing to being very busy with raising a family, and voila! There you have it.
--Pamela
I'm sure that she was interrupted all the time. All she had to do was notice what happened when she came back to the bread. Ah, ainted Motherhood!
Patricia