Sharing a useful hack
I’ve been making our favourite sourdough weekly for years and have not varied the process at all (don’t fix something that’s not broken). Same flours, same temperatures, same hydration, same process and same kneading technique, which is hand stretch and folds for 15 minutes, quite an effort towards the end. Recently, I broke four ribs and punctured a lung and therefore haven’t baked in four weeks. With the help of painkillers, I got back into the kitchen today. While convalescing I read that I can achieve good dough strength by kneading for 5 minutes and then rest for 15 minutes. Repeat the cycle until you get a windowpane. This simple advice has proven very helpful as it has saved me a lot of effort. I’ll continue with this method from hereon and I wish I had known about it years ago.
Cheers,
Gavin.
EDIT Todays result:
Comments
Wishing you a speedy recovery. Get well soon.❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
Yippee
Thank you. Slow apparently.
Oh, Gavin, ouch, ouch, ouch! I've had the four broken ribs without the added lung puncture. I'm so sorry. The loaves look fabulous, though.
If you wouldn't mind a suggestion, as long as you are trying out changes to your old standard, instead of kneading for 5/rest for 15, try knead for 5, and that's all. Leave the rest of the dough development to time and and a few Stretch-and-Folds.
In the meantime, we are all behind you as you get better little by little.
TomP
Thanks Tom for your kind words. Your suggestion is worth investigating. and I will try it out. It's a long time since I read the science behind the gluten development but intend to refresh myself on it soon. 90% of the wheat flour I use is 11.5% protein, maybe that has some influence. My dough feel was noticeably improved after two cycles this time.
Gavin
So sorry for your injuries. Hopefully the breadmaking will help the healing process.
I use this hack even with the stand mixer or bread machine whenever the dough doesn't seem to be coming together and smoothing out. I cover the bowl, wait 20-40 minutes for everything to hydrate (even 10 helps) and then resume. It makes a world of difference. In Bread, Jeffrey uses similar in the hand-mixed breads --- mixing punctuated by resting.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery :)
dw
Thank you for your best wishes. I felt such an idiot when it happened. I slipped on smooth carpeted stairs at grand parents day. Only a fraction of a second and no time to react. Five days in hospital and now convalescing at home. I'm grateful for the pain killers!
I'll re-read Jefferies advice on hand-mixed breads as it seems to have escaped me. I always autolyze/fermentalize for about 30 minutes. On reflection, I think that the hydration takes longer due to my 10% stone milled whole-wheat as the husk grabs the water. Maybe either wait or up the hydration.
Thanks again,
Gavin
When you are making dough that you plan to ferment for a long time I don't think that details of how much rest, when to knead or stretch, and so on matter very much. I almost always mix and knead by hand and I've not very familiar with how it goes with a mixer. Actually, with my small dough batches it goes badly in my KitchenAide so I don't do it. Here's how it usually goes.
The initial mix is just to wet the dry ingredients so there are no dry patches or lumps. You might want to use a disposable glove so you won't have to face cleaning dough off your hands. The dough will be very shaggy and possibly sticky, with no particular strength. It only takes a few minutes.
Half an hour later - or 45 minutes or an hour, whatever is convenient - the dough will be smoother and easier to work with. I knead it a little and stretch it a little. No window pane at this point. Adjustments to the water could be made at this point. The dough will start to feel and look more like a dough and not a sludgy mass.
As you know, after a rest the dough will relax, slump, and get more extensible. A S&F session will bring in some elasticity. I usually plan to do an S&F after half an hour but if I will be away for an hour and a half I don't worry. The dough will be easier to handle after the wait, and less sticky if it's still sticky at all. Another S&F again develops elasticity and order in the dough.
If the dough seems to be willing to hold its shape, has strength and doesn't want to tear I may leave it at that, otherwise I will do one or two more rests and S&Fs. I don't do another S&F session until the dough has relaxed and gotten extensible enough that it makes sense to build up the elasticity again. After that I leave it to the magic of bulk fermentation. All this time, fermentation will have been going on even if there is no visible rise yet. Doing S&Fs doesn't stop or reset the fermentation.
Doing it like this lets you work with the dough for only a few minutes at a time, and each session requires very little effort.
TomP
Thank you Tom. I appreciate you sharing your experience.
Cheers,
Gavin
Best wishes for complete recovery!
Your loaves look super. :)
Thank you for your good wishes. I feel like I'm making slow progress.
My wife slipped on a gravel path at a nursery last month and shattered 2 bones in her arm. I feel your pain.
Your loaves look great and good idea to let the dough rest.
Best regards,
Ian
Thanks Ian. I wish your wife a speedy recovery. The pain killing drugs really help.
Cheers,
Gavin
Hope you are feeling somewhat better now. For all the knocks "Big Pharma" get, they are indispensable.