After many years of bread baking and trying most of the various methods I found very little difference between the much more labour intensive stretch and fold breads vs one I simply mix for 8 minutes in my stand mixer. Maybe I’ll slandered for suggesting this, but …. Why all the fuss over complex techniques when a does a great job. For context this loaf is typical of what I bake for a family breakfast loaf where we don’t want to many holes so the butter and jam can stay on the bread.
550g flour
360g water
11g salt
100g starter
15 minutes autolyse four and water
Add starter and salt , combine in low speed for one minute then medium speed for 7 minutes until the dough comes away from the bowl.
Bulk rise 12 hrs on the bench.
Shape after dinner rest 30 minutes and re shape before putting in the bannetons.
Overnight in the fridge and bake in the morning in a Dutch oven
Pre heat oven 250c then reduce temp to 230c , 20 minutes covered and 12 minutes lid off with a water in a bowl at the bottom of the oven.
by Dependent-Pie-5995
16 Comments
>I found very little difference between the much more labour intensive stretch and fold breads vs one I simply mix for 8 minutes in my stand mixer.
There is little or no difference because you are doing the same thing. Once the dough separates from the bowl you can do a quick windowpane test and you will find that the dough is very strong, and they window forms beautifully. I’ve been doing it this way since I don’t have too much time on the weekends to do several stretch and folds and my results have been great so far.
No-knead approach made bread accessible for anyone that did not want to spend $300+ on a mixer, and became popular.
We used to always do bread by hand kneading because “it was the way”. Turns out there are many ways. I have a mixer but I like the stretch and fold method, so my sourdoughs are typically made without the mixer. When my wrists/hands give out I will probably go back to the mixer 😀
Why use brushes to paint a picture when you can just dump paint on the canvas?
Bread, like the canvas, is a creative outlet. Paint and likewise dough, can be manipulated to myriad times myriad different outcomes which are subjectively pleasing.
Mixers work really well if u don’t have access to hard winter wheat flour, combined with over night biga and 12 hour autoanlyse for whole grain. BTW over kneading is a myth created right here on this sub.
I use a stand mixer as well, and when I didn’t have one of those – I just kneaded by hand. I don’t have time to stretch and fold all day, it irritates the crap out of me lol.
If I want a no-knead recipe, I’ll do the Ben Starr method. [Simple Sourdough for Lazy People](https://youtu.be/hNCL6jwRJTo?si=sELL0dz0iBl80Acq)
Your loaf looks good, and however you make your bread is just fine! I don’t like sticking my hands into the dough to mix, so I use the mixer, but I usually only do 2 minutes and then do stretch and folds. I kind of like doing them, but if I am shorter on time, I can do longer in the mixer and skip a couple.
The more you mix a dough with a stand mixer the more you oxidise the dough, this makes the crumb whiter and impacts the flavour. So there’s definitely an argument for minimising your mixer usage but they are certainly very helpful and can obviously still make fantastic bread.
I’ve burned out 2 pro-KA mixer motors making bread. I only use it for 95%+ hydration now when it comes to bread. There’s also something cathartic about slap and folds or kneading bread. Also can’t over knead this way. Mixers can over work a dough.
Just look into the setting you use and the duration. My kitchenaid blew up over Christmas because I had it kneading dough (for scrolls) for too long on 3. I believe you have to be on speed 2 or lower and give the machine breaks after so many minutes unless it’s an (even more) commercial grade machine
I don’t like getting messy, and i usually do 70%+ hydration, which can be sticky. So in the standmixer it goes. And i just mix everything at the beginning, no waiting to add this or that. Starter gets taken out of fridge and fed once the day/night before baking.
Nice!
Dough temperature during bulk? It’s helpful to always provide dough temp when sharing bulk times because the two are very closely related. 80F? 4-5.5 hours? 70F? Easily twice that.
Beautiful bake. Nice job.
Wait we could’ve been using our mixers this whole time?!
I’ve worked in well regarded bakeries that did it both ways. If you are using techniques like an autolyse or double hydration then there is no reason you can’t get excellent results.
maybe i was impatient and didn’t mix my long enough in my mixer but my goal was mix, autolyse, then stretch and fold. when i went to do my first folds a lot of flour wasn’t mixed so i had to remix. it was fine but maybe next time i mix longer? the dough was starting to get everywhere so thats why i stopped, could be too small for two loaves
If you add 1/4 teaspoon of active dry yeast do you still do bulk rise for 12 hours?