Autolyse with milk?

.. for both brioche and kugelhopf. Wish I could say it made a difference but I could not detect any. Perhaps too many flavours going on in an enriched dough? That said, it didn't do any harm. And perhaps they might taste better to others with more refined taste buds than myself?

Here are two website that may help you.The answer to your question isn't as simple as "yes" or "no"; much depends on how the milk was treated (i.e. pasteurized) or if you've scalded it as many old recipes prescribe.

http://www.milkfacts.info/Milk%20Composition/Enzymes.htm

http://www.classofoods.com/page1_4.html

David G

Here are my notes on scalding milk, perhaps, they will be helpful.

Whether to scald milk or not for yeast breads has been a controversial subject.  For years, I have not bothered to scald pasteurized milk.  I am now convinced that some of my less than perfect breads may well have been due to the excessive amount of something in the milk that prevents the gluten from forming.  The “experts” believe that scalding fresh milk or using a “hot processed” powdered milk is best.  King Arthur offers a product called “Baker’s Special Dry Milk” that is produced by the high temperature method.  Thus, in the recipes in the Yeast Bread Chapter and in the Sourdough Chapter, we have called for the use of scalded milk rather just pasteurized milk.

Zoe Ann Holmes (Emeritus Professor, Nutrition and Food Management, Oregon State University) writes “there is an element in milk that can weaken gluten.  Food scientists aren't sure what it is yet (as of 2006), but suspect it's a protein in the milk that acts somewhat as a protease.  Heating the milk to 198 F (92 C) inactivates the element -- whatever it is.  If left active, the bread will be coarser and less risen than one made with scalded milk.” [1]

Dan DiMuzio[2] writes, ”We know what the fragment is she's referring to -- it is the glutathione…”

He writes in another thread.[3]  “You can make great bread with or without scalding your milk.  But scalding will deactivate the glutathione in the milk.   If you deactivate the glutathione, the loaf will have, at least, somewhat better height.  That doesn't mean that using non-scalded milk gives you unacceptable height -- but there's at least some difference.  You as the baker get to decide whether or not this matters to you.

“Glutathione is a whey protein fragment that works like protease does (in its visible effects, anyway) to weaken protein bonds, and to some degree disassemble them.  High-heat dry milk is manufactured specifically for professional bakers who want the convenience of using a dried product AND because they know it was held at 190F for 30 minutes before the drying process takes place.  The glutathione is actually (like enzymes) not a living thing, but merely a catalyst for chemical reactions, and when treated this way it will no longer affect the gluten bonds.

“Pasteurization for fresh milk is limited to about 161°F for 15 seconds or more.  Its purpose is to kill most of the live microbes in the milk, but it has no effect at all on the glutathione.  There is an Ultra-High-Temperature (UHT) pasteurization process that holds other dairy products at about 280°F for just 2 seconds, and that would probably deactivate the glutathione, but this process is not applied to fresh milk.

[1] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12076/why-milk-powder-milk-bread-and-not-just-milk

[2] ibid

[3] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/14040/mil-breas.  See also Daniel T. DiMuzio, Bread Baking, John Wiley (2010), p 24.

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Ford