Whole wheat + Whole spelt + whole rye..Autolyse or not??

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SunnyGail on 10 Feb 2022 at 04:00

I am planning on trying the following recipe:

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/overnight-whole-grain-sourdough-wheat-spelt-amp-rye

The recipe doesn't specify if the flours should be autolysed or not...I know that the whole wheat would benefit from a long autolyse, but what what about the whole spelt and whole rye??

Any advice on what would be the best course of action for this specific recipe?

Thanks a lot in advance!!

This is just me but if the spelt and rye were in smaller amounts, I'd autolyse them all but at that percentage that's quite a bit - I think if you autolyse everything together for any length of time you're already giving extensibility to flours that encourage it, and the unbridled time with all those great sugars from the rye invite breakdown.  If it were me, I'd autolyse the whole wheat flour only and then add in the other flours with your levain and salt.

 

There is no detriment to doing all of them for about an hour.  It will only help and there’s no reason to only do the WW.  I always do all of my whole grains this way.

The recipe has 40% non-strong flour.  At smaller amounts, I don't have a problem but that seems to me like a lot to throw in with an autolysis designed to render a better extensibility, for one.

I’ve made plenty of dough with at least that amount with no issues at all.  I’m not saying you need to autolyse for hours but an hour will only help it and cause no harm.