Tips, Theory, Technique, and other T-Words: AUTOLYSE!

Generally speaking, when making the type of bread we do, there are two broad goals: Handle it only as much as necessary, and keep it in the best temperature range for fermentation. The more you have to mix a dough in your industrial mixer, the more the dough will tend to oxidize (breaking down the gluten structure) and lose cartenoid pigments (which give your dough a crumb a nice, orangy color rather than Supermarket white). More mixing also causes the dough temperature to rise due to the friction caused by the spinning the dough hook. If your temperatures are inconsistent, then the doughs will ferment faster/slower then you want, and your nicely paced baking schedule is shot to pieces.

What the autolyse does is help you control all of that. The process is a simple one: When mixing the dough (we'll use a French dough as an example, which contains flour, water, yeast, and salt), you add just the flour and the water first, and mix just to moisten the flour completely - known as the "shaggy mass" stage. If you try and grab the mass, it will rip, and your hand will go right through:

So, you wait. Even without the mixer running, the starch will continue to absorb water and the gluten will continue to develop, allowing you to gently "develop" the dough while essentially doing nothing. Twenty minutes later (some bakers autolyse the dough as long as sixty minutes), grab the mass again. It will have developed considerable strength!

When you switch to the second speed of the mixer (the fast speed that is used to develop gluten rather than mix the ingredients), you'll realize what you have gained. The dough will "come together" much more quickly, allowing the mixer to keep his temperatures on target, keep those nice color pigments whole, and reduce gluten breakdown. Great job, John!