Can I use milk to autolyse?

Yes, you can autolyse with milk. Any water-based liquid used in the dough can be used to autolyse the dough. That could include beer or fruit juice, for example. Liquid fats, such as oils, contain little or no water, making them useless for autolysis.

What happens if you autolyse too long?

If you autolyse for too long, it can result in a sticky, weak dough that potentially degrades through extended fermentation. Finally, when a formula has significant spelt flour, which is known to typically be very extensible, I’ll skip the autolyse.

What makes bread fluffy and soft?

Yeast releases gases when it consumes the sugars in the flour. These gases get trapped inside the dough buy the mesh the gluten makes. This is what causes your bread to be airy and fluffy. This mesh is formed by kneading the dough.

Can you autolyse with sugar?

Fats lubricate the flour making it harder to form a tight gluten structure, whereas, sugar inhibits the water in the dough. Providing the flour has enough liquid, it is best to delay the addition of fat and sugar until after the autolyse. Preferably add it in the last few minutes of mixing.

What is Yudane method?

Yudane method uses a dough made by mixing boiling water and flour in addition to those by water. Advantages of this method are unique texture and sugar sweetness generated by endogenous enzymes.

Can autolyse replace kneading?

The Dough will Need Less Kneading Time if it has had an Autolyse. If you choose to knead your dough, you will find that an autolyse greatly reduces the time it needs to be kneaded for. This is because the autolyse has ‘primed’ the dough for gluten development and has already started the process.

Can I autolyse for 3 hours?

Autolysis is a process in bread making which involves mixing flour and water together for a period of time, before adding other ingredients. This hydrates the flour, which encourages enzymes to begin gluten development. Dough can be left to autolyse from 10 minutes to 5 hours or more.

What happens if you add salt before autolyse?

The salt doesn’t interact with any but the topmost layer of the dough so the autolyse proceeds normally underneath as expected; and the small amount of moisture that the salt draws out of the dough dissolves it, making it easier to mix in later.

Why is commercial bread so fluffy?

The introduction of pan baking made bread softer and puffier. In the 19th century a distaste for “sourness” (ironically the same “sourness” that makes San Francisco sourdough and other sourdoughs so great) led to the introduction of baking soda to bread, which made it puffier still.

Can I autolyse in the fridge overnight?

The full effects of autolysing has been realized after a period of 60 minutes, hence an overnight autolyse in the fridge will not made any improvements to your dough. It is not necessary to autolyse your sourdough in the fridge overnight, and doing so will only have detrimental effects on your bake.