Autolyse is the process of mixing the flour and water together until just mixed, always without any salt, and most of the time without any starter or pre-ferment, and leaving it to hydrate for ten minutes to one hour. This is a good technique to know, and in some circumstances can help you make better bread, but it is not always necessary. Doing an autolyse with the starter added is often referred to as a ‘fermentolyse’.
Autolyse was invented as a way to improve the quality of machine-mixed white yeast breads. There are some benefits for autolysing some whole grain sourdough breads, but there are some things that need to be factored in when you make the decision whether to autolyse or not.
For whole grain baking, especially when using wheats with hard bran, the main benefit is that it allows the bran in the grain to soften before more intensive mixing begins. This can also be achieved by simply mixing all ingredients together roughly and leaving them to rest before kneading or folding begins.
A benefit of a true autolyse for all breads is the creation of a more extensible dough. The protease enzyme in flour is activated in water, but inhibited by salt. By mixing together just the water and flour (and possibly also the pre-ferment or starter) and allowing it to rest, this enzyme breaks down some of the protein to make the gluten strands smaller and looser, which helps the dough to stretch without tearing.
Why a true autolyse does not always make sense for whole grain sourdough
• When working with fresh milled flour, the enzymes in the fresh flour begin to break down the gluten as soon as it is mixed. Doing a long autolyse with fresh milled flour could create the exact opposite of what you want. If you absolutely must autolyse with fresh milled flour, keep it to 15 minutes or less.
• When working with sourdough, the pre-ferment or starter contributes to the overall hydration of the recipe, so you may find that trying to do a “proper” autolyse without the starter results in a dough that is too dry.
• Autolyse was created as a way to improve the quality of machine-mixed, fast-fermented white yeast breads. Handmade whole grain sourdough is the exact opposite of this, and doesn’t really need improving. While you can get slightly better bread from doing an autolyse, it is by no means an essential step towards making great bread.
Ways that a short autolyse or fermentolyse can help (if you don’t mind adding it to your schedule)
• If you’ve been having issues with dough tearing during strengthening or shaping.
• If you are working with a wheat flour that has lower- than-ideal protein levels: the autolyse will help to make the most of the protein that is there.
• If you are making baguettes, pretzels, or other breads that need a lot of stretching during shaping.
The long slow answer of why I don’t autolyse my dough
The other day I was mixing tortillas in one bowl and pan loaves in another while milling grain, cooking the main meal of the day for 9 people, making cheese, being a bit tired and distracted, a bit short on bench space, with a kitchen full of jars, and all the other things that are going on at harvest season.
When eventually I had enough grain milled for both doughs and the water measured out, I mixed the pan loaves up, forgetting about the salt until it was already mixed. Knowing that I was likely to forget about the salt entirely unless I did something right that instant, I sprinkled the salt on the top, so that I’d mix it in with the stretching and folding, and figured I’d use this as another lesson in observation, to remind myself of what effect the fermentolyse (autolyse with starter/pre-ferment added) would have on the dough.
On this particular day, it all went smoothly. I was in and out of the kitchen cooking lunch anyway, did a couple of sets of stretch and folds during this time, and observed that yes indeed, the dough is stretchier and more beautiful to handle. While shaping, I again remarked at how lovely and stretchy the dough was.
On a different day, there may have been a family or homestead emergency, I may have gotten caught up in the garden or on the computer for too long, or a bunch of other things could have happened that would have prevented me from stretching and folding on time, or from remembering to add the salt at all.
There is so much in my life that needs to be remembered, and noting every single thing down and checking things off lists is not always the most efficient way for me, so I store a lot of stuff in my head. This leads to some feelings of being overwhelmed at times, because while the everyday tasks mostly seem to flow into each other in a beautiful rhythmic way, and they seem to make sense and get done on time, there is still a lot to remember, and remembering to add salt to my dough or that I definitely need to stretch and fold no matter what, is just one extra thing weighing on my mind.
In a life that isn’t as busy, autolyse does lead to nicer dough, but in a life with a million different things happening all at once and a toddler likely to desperately need me at any given moment, it’s just one more thing to have to remember, and one more thing that contributes a dash of anxiety to bread baking, rather than the effortless, flowing, flexible atmosphere of bread making that I like to have.
To me, baking bread should be enjoyable, and should be an almost-effortless part of life. Minimising the amount of steps that *need* to be done, and increasing the amount of flexibility that a recipe can possibly have fits within this way of baking.
So my recipes will never have autolyse or fermentolyse in there as an instruction. But if you like the results of an autolyse and adding an extra step doesn’t overwhelm you, feel very free to just mix dough without the salt, then add the salt in with the first set of stretch and folds, and you’ll get stretchier dough.
May your bread always be lovely, no matter how much time you have on your hands. Floury regards,
Kate
P.S. I've been having email problems for the past week or so while I switch around web hosting, and am currently not receiving emails. If you've tried to email me in the past week or two, I'm not ignoring you, it just hasn't arrived. If you need to ask any questions, you can contact me at katedownham at proton dot me in the meantime while I try to fix this up!
P.P.S. If you'd like to access an archive of all previous Floury Friday emails, simply visit http://katedownham.kit.com.
600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
Unsubscribe · Preferences
