Two stretch and fold questions:
Many recipes say do one s&f every X minutes. Do they literally mean 1, or does 1 refer to a set? If the latter, how many in a set?
i have read several times in these forums that you're never supposed to tear dough. But several s&f videos I've seen show that the dough is clearly torn. Sure could use some help on this.
They mean sets. I have found that in most cases S&F isn't really necessary. It's perhaps most useful to equilibrate internal dough temperature. I find that time and a stretch and fold at the end of bulk ferment is sufficient for dough development.
BTW my dough is ~83% hydration.
You don't want to tear the dough that sounds more like a pull and rip than stretch and fold.
a set being four compass folds.
I think if the dough tears, it probably hasn't been given enough time to relax between stretches. I usually wait about 30mins before doing the next set.
There are two or three major kinds of tearing.
1) The kind of tearing that comes from underdeveloped dough or dough that has too much flour/ too low a hydration. Not too worrisome, easily corrected or tweaked with more folding, or more moisture.
2) The one just mentioned by Ru when gluten is tight, then overstretched. Rest and less handling helps.
3) Tearing when the gluten matrix breaks down, protein no longer bonds together, dough is over-fermented and/or decomposing. This is a serious sign that play time is over and to get the loaf baking. Reduce the fermentation in the next repeat of the recipe.
When there is tearing, you have to decide which tearing applies to the situation. Ask yourself, "What is it telling me?" Other factors come to play... how fermented is the dough, type of flour, how much gluten is in the dough, what other causes of tearing could be in play like sharp or moisture grabbing ingredients.