Whole Grain Sourdough Bread Long Vs Short Autolysis Recipes

ARTISAN WHOLE GRAIN SOURDOUGH

Steps:

• Evening of Day 1:
• Mix all ingredients together
• Ferment (let sit out at room temperature covered loosely with plastic) at 69F for 12 hours.
• Morning of Day 2:
• Add day 2 to day 1 ingredients
• Knead, place in plastic covered bowl and refrigerate for 24 hours.
• Morning of Day 3:
• Form a boule (round loaf) and ferment (let sit out on counter) 5 hours at 69F.
• Bake at 485F for 40-45 minutes.

WHOLE GRAIN SOURDOUGH RUSTIC COUNTRY LOAF

Steps:

• Combine salt with flour in a mixing bowl, then add water and mix either by hand or with a dough whisk until fully incorporated into a "shaggy mass."
• Add starter and mix / squish by hand until fully incorporated. The process of incorporating the starter is a bit of primary kneading and should result in the dough smoothing out some, but don't go nuts. As soon as the starter is fully incorporated, you're done.
• Cover mixing bowl and let sit.
• First Bulk Fermentation Period
• The first (of three) bulk fermentation period is at room temperature which for me is 73 - 75 degrees F, and lasts about 10 hours.
• At about an hour in, do 5-10 minutes of hand kneading (see notes and video below) until the dough develops some strength and elasticity and becomes noticeably smoother. Cover and let sit.
• Every 1-2 hours (exact timing is not important - really!) do a short round of stretching and folding to re-develop the dough's elasticity (see notes and video below). Then re-cover and let sit.
• Second Bulk Fermentation Period
• After about 10 hours, or whenever the dough has risen to about 1.5 times its original volume, put the covered bowl of dough into a cold (~40 F) refrigerator and let sit (for me, this is overnight) for about 10 hours.
• Third Bulk Fermentation Period
• Remove dough from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature again.
• As the dough warms up, resume periodic stretch and folds. Dough should be feeling progressively more lively, developing a bit of sour aroma, and eventually starting to bubble some.
• This final bulk fermentation period is the hardest to put a time length on. Getting it right matters, and it will totally depend on how active your starter is, how warm your kitchen is, and a whole host of other mostly invisible things. You are shooting to finish this period when the dough has risen to 2 - 2.5 times its original volume and ideally is actively blowing a few bubbles. I've had this take anywhere from 4 - 8 hours depending on this and that. Your mileage may vary. Try not to overshoot this - you'll probably have a better result erring on the too soon side than the too late side.
• Shaping and Proofing
• (See notes and video below)
• Prepare a lined proofing basket by generously flouring the inside and set it aside.
• Lightly flour a large work surface and turn the dough out onto it.
• Wet your hands, punch down the dough and then stretch and flatten it into a large thin rectangle.
• Fold dough in half from top to bottom and press top into bottom, flattening again but not as big as the initial rectangle. At this point, you want the height of the dough rectangle to be right about the length of your proofing basket (no more than that).
• [Optional] Lightly flour the top of the dough (and your hands).
• Start at one end and roll the dough rectangle into a cylinder.
• Keep track of the seam and transfer the dough cylinder into the lined, floured proofing basket seam-side up.
• Cover and let sit for 1 - 1.5 hours.
• Baking
• From 30 - 60 minutes after transferring dough into proofing basket, pre-heat oven and clay baker to 450 degrees F ~ about 20 - 30 minutes.
• Uncover dough and transfer from proofing basket into base of clay baker, score top of dough, cover and bake at 450 F for 25 minutes.
• Uncover clay baker, reduce oven temperature to 400 F and bake uncovered for another 20-25 minutes (or until desired crust color develops).
• Remove bread and place on cooling rack for at least a couple hours before cutting.

SOURDOUGH FOCACCIA (YEAST VERSION TOO)

Steps:

• Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
• Add all of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low speed for about 2 minutes with the paddle attachment, and medium speed for another 8 minutes with the dough hook, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula a few times. If you don't have a stand mixer, you can mix by hand for about 15 minutes, letting your arm and the dough rest between short bouts of effort.
• Move the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Mark this as the beginning of your bulk fermentation.
• After a 30 minute rest, stretch and fold, or coil fold, the dough four times (every 20-40 minutes) over the next 2-3 hours. Wet your hands before handling the dough, and cover the dough afterward.
• Leave the dough to continue bulk fermenting for 3-6 more hours until it has almost doubled and is bubbly. The yeast version of this recipe bulk fermented for a little over 5 hours total, about the same as the sourdough version.
• Final Proof and Topping
• Prep a parchment lined baking pan with about 2 Tbsp of olive oil (parchment is optional if the pan is non-stick). Make sure to go up the sides of the parchment/pan.
• Gently scrape the dough onto the parchment. With oily fingers pull and press the dough outward to the edges of the pan, dimpling it with oily fingertips.
• Cover the pan with plastic wrap or put it inside two clean plastic grocery bags. I use binder clips to keep the bags from touching and sticking to the dough (see gallery).
• Let proof 1-2 hours at room temperature (or overnight in the refrigerator, plus another 2-4 hours to warm up in the morning). The dough should look thicker and have some bubbles when the final proof is over.
• Baking
• Preheat your oven to 450F for 20 minutes with an inverted baking sheet (or 30 minutes with a pizza stone) one shelf up from the bottom shelf.
• Drizzle oil on the top of the dough (thumb over spout of oil bottle or using spoonfuls), dimple it again if you'd like, add toppings and finally sprinkle it with coarse salt.
• Put the focaccia pan in the oven on top of the hot baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake an additional 10-15 minutes. (The bake time is the same for 9x13 and 13x18 pans.)
• The internal temperature of the focaccia should be at least 200F.
• Remove the focaccia from the pan and parchment, and let cool on a rack for about 20 minutes before serving. Leftovers can be wrapped in the parchment you baked it in.