Tartine notes

I have been grinding flour in my bleNader, using 200 grams hard winter red berries to 800 grams all purpose flour and making my 200 grams of levain with either 100 grams of the fresh flour or using a 50/50 blend. 

I have also varied the autolyze period from overnight to an hour. I add the levain and salt after the autolysis. I can't say that I can't ell the difference in the finished loaves but the dough is somewhat easier to handle because it is less sticky.  It feels odd to incorporate the levain into the autolyzed mixture but it seems to incorporate just as well as when I disperse it in the water and then add it to the flour and water. 

I dont know if there is any benefit to doing it this way, and am posting just so folks know there are other options out there. That way if you "mess up" you can rest assured that the end product won't suffer. 

I suppose one benefit is if the levain is not ready you can get mixing thr flour and water and let it sit while the levain develops and then just spoon out your 200 grams of ready levain into the dough and get mixing with those hands. 

One thing I note for sure, when adding the 50 grams of water and salt after the autolysis, the water does not incorporate as well into the dough and the dough itself seems wetter than usual.