February 21, 2019 - 8:59am
Sponge or autolyse that is the question
I usually make a sponge (correct me if I'm wrong) i.e. I mix my starter with warm water and a bit of flour and let it raise and bubble for 2 hours. Then I add the rest of the flour and water + salt, mix and raise 1h then S&F then raise then S&F and so on.
I read online that some people rather autolyse (correct me if I'm wrong) i.e. mix flour and water and let it rest before adding the starter and the salt.
Obviously the two methods are exclusive of one another.
Which one would you recommend, please?
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It's entirely possible to do both in the same recipe; you just need an extra container. The vast majority of the flour in container #1 (presumably the main mixing bowl), with enough plain water to wet it - and the sponge in container #2, done in the way you choose.
I can't say if this two-containers plan is better or worse, because there are so many little ways for bread to succeed and so many for it to fail - but at least now you can try out three methods instead of two. ?
Of course :-)
I'll try next time then.
I miscalculated the amount of water for each of them. My sponge is fine, as usual, but the autolyse recipient ended up with a hard ball and I don't want to increase the amount of water because I don't want to spoil the % hydration. Will this kind of autolyse work? How thick is yours? Next time I'll decrease the amount of water for the sponge to leave more water for the autolyse but then my sponge may suffer from this? What is your experience, please?