So I was kind of messing around with dough this afternoon and I got the hydration all wrong. The dough was too wet, stretch-and-fold wasn't working, and after two hours of fermenting, it was clear by the way that the dough was tearing that there was NOT enough gluten.
So, I added a bit more flour and kneaded for about 5 minutes using the "slap and fold" technique. The dough seems much stronger. I'm going to let it rest for 30 minutes before dividing and shaping.
This got me thinking... why do we knead before the primary fermentation? Why not mix the dough, do a two hour autolyse of sorts, then knead, followed almost immediately by shaping and proofing?
Any thoughts?
I'll let you know how this turns out in a few hours...
Eric
Maybe there's a need for decent gluten development prior to bulk fermentation to provide structure for the gas pockets produced by the yeast. If that structure was all, or even mostly, formed only prior to proofing, the crumb would be tighter and much more uniform. You'd have to knock all the gas that was in the dough outtathere in order to knead it. That's a guess, though.
The above is correct, plus I think the crumb would be much tougher.
Eric
PS: Nice name BTW!
I use either method, depending on my time contraints.
If I need bread some time during the week, I'll mix, stretch and fold the dough and then shove it in the fridge. When I take it out of the fridge, it's a matter of pre shaping, shaping and baking. That's convenient. The gluten doesn't seem to suffer from a few days in the cold.
If I need a loaf more urgently where a retarded preferment wouldn't deliver the flavor, it works out better to leave the mixed dough out on the counter at room temperature overnight to preferment, and then stretch-and-fold in the morning before shaping and baking.
I can't say there is a difference in gluten development from my observations.
Now that I think about it, I probably wouldn't let the developed gluten sit overnight on the counter. It would overproof and I suppose I would have trouble getting the shape I want.