Mixers and no-knead bread dough

[Shalmanese]

Assuming I'm making a 70+% hydration french boule and I'm looking for a crackling crisp crust and large, airy crumb, is it better to develop the gluten through agitation, autolysis or both?

I largely avoided baking bread for a couple of years due to being sick of all the kneading. I was dimly aware of the entire no-knead movement but never jumped on the bandwagon. Now that I got a brand new mixer, I have a hankering to make bread again and, reading up on everything, I find a lot of words written but very little hard, solid science about what's going on behind the scenes. I'm trying to understand exactly how autolysis, kneading, folding and proofing interact with each other to produce the perfect loaf.

[jmolinari]

Only one way to find out. Make 1 kneaded in mixer and 1 no-knead. Bake under the same conditions. Eat. Decide.

Personally, i've moved to no-knead for almost everything, ciabatte, boule, pizza dough. And I have a mixer. I do think it's better, but the convenience and ease might be have an effect on my tasting I haven't tasted the 2 methods blind side by side. Is it better than mixer for 10 minutes, THEN overnight rest? Don't know.

Edited December 2, 2011 by jmolinari (log)

[weinoo]

I think jmolinari has it right. You have to try each method and see what you like best, science be damned.

I've made great pizza doughs, for instance, using my Cuisinart. But yesterday, using my Cuisinart, I was about to pull whatever hair I have left, out of my head - things just weren't working right.

I've just started baking again - as the weather cools, it's much less aggravating to turn the oven on. And it seems like I have to learn everything all over again.

[Crouton]

Oh definitely no knead. It takes a few times to get it right so don't assume it's not a great technique if you get less than stellar results your first few attempts.

[Lisa Shock]

If you have a mixer, there's no need to be hand kneading. You just develop the gluten by running the mixer for 4-10 minutes or so and you're done. Professional bread recipes don't involve kneading.

My favorite basic home-user bread book is Baking Artisan Bread: 10 Expert Formulas for Baking Better Bread at Home by Ciril Hitz.

[scott123]

I've never seen any hard data on this, but I think that a lot of people subscribe to the idea that the more you knead, the finer the crumb.

Regardless of whether or not that's true, most people prefer the flavor of bread made from cold fermented dough. Take 100 random people, give them a sourdough, some may love it, some may not, but give those same 100 random people a cold fermented bread and non cold fermented bread and 99 will prefer the flavor from the cold ferment.

A big part of that preference stems from the fact that cold fermentation favors enzyme activity- amylase is generating residual sugar for a slightly sweeter loaf and protease is generating amino acids/umami. There's obviously other byproducts being created, but those are the big players.

Since cold fermented dough is superior, and since you, as a home baker, have the time and space to cold ferment, it's a no brainer. Because of the resting gluten development involved in overnight cold fermentation, you have no choice but to dial back the agitation at the start or you're going to end up pushing the gluten past it's limits.

So not no knead, but definitely minimal knead with a long cold ferment.