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Rant: a baker at my cousin's wedding said to skip the autolyse because it does nothing, and my last 6 loaves have been flat bricks | Bakers - nhfree.com

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ivan597•7d ago

Rant: a baker at my cousin's wedding said to skip the autolyse because it does nothing, and my last 6 loaves have been flat bricks

I bake sourdough most weekends out of my little kitchen in Boise and I had a pretty solid thing going for about 8 months. Then at my cousin's wedding in July, this older baker who was doing the dessert table pulls me aside after I mentioned I was into bread and goes, 'Autolyse is a waste of an hour, just mix everything at once.' He seemed like he knew his stuff so I tried it. First loaf came out dense and gummy in the middle, second one had almost no oven spring, and by loaf number 6 I was staring at a sad flat disc that tasted like wet cardboard. I ran a side by side test the following Saturday, one dough with a 45 minute rest and one without, same flour, same starter, same temp. The rest dough rose probably 30 percent higher in the oven and had an open crumb you could actually see. So now I'm back to my old way but I wasted 3 weeks of baking and a few pounds of good flour listening to a guy I met one time. Has anyone else had somebody hand them a 'shortcut' that just wrecked their bake?

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1 Comment

spencer_hayes714d ago

Feeling your pain on this one, that flat cardboard disc hits way too close to home. I had a coworker tell me to skip the bulk rise and just let it sit on the counter for an hour total, and I ended up with three loaves that looked like hockey pucks. Good on you for actually running the side by side test instead of just taking his word for it, that's the smart move. That 30 percent spring difference you saw says everything, and honestly it's nice to hear someone else confirm the rest actually matters and it's not just placebo. The part that stings is losing the flour and the weekends, because baking is supposed to be the fun part of the week. At least now you've got proof in your own kitchen that your old way works, and next time some guy at a party hands you a shortcut you can smile and nod and go right back to doing what you know.