Randall Nortman wrote:

>On 2005-08-24, Samartha Deva > wrote:
>
>
>
>>I found a difference when thoroughly mixing (almost foamy) rye and water
>>at the very beginning and not doing it. The latter, identically made
>>bread (60/40 wheat rye mix) showed a better structure which means to me
>>that amylase activity is happening right away and has affect. If you are
>>doing 30 minutes of autolyzing without starter, you may contribute to
>>deterioration.
>>
>>
>
>No, the starter is mixed into the dough right from the start, before
>the autolyse step. In fact, I go ahead and put the salt in as well,
>even though it is generally recommended to do that after autolyse.
>It's probably better to wait, but I like to shoot for a balance
>between laziness and perfection.
>
>
By definition, an autolyse has no riser in it. It's just flour and
water, and the action is self starting (the "auto" part) based on
enzymes in the flour.

If you put starter or yeast or poolish or biga or whatever sort of thing
that has a biological riser, its no longer an autolyse.

I'm not suggesting that what you are doing is "wrong", just that its
mislabled.

As to salt, that's a topic for several long threads. Jeff Hamelman
suggests putting salt into some autolyses to keep the enzymatic action
under control. Some people suggest putting the salt in the dough at the
end of the kneading. Others comment that salt acts as an anti-oxidant,
so it should be put into the dough early.

I put the salt into my doughs early.

Mike


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