"Todd K." > wrote in message
ups.com...
> In an effort to have a firmer dough at bake time, I tried the "no
> knead" technique. I still ended up with gloopy dough that would not
> hold its shape after forming into boules. There is some oven spring,
> but bread is still kinda flat and dense.
>


You know, I had been pretty much doing the "no-knead" thing for all my
bread for quite a few months now, and I had been pretty happy with my
loaves. The last two bakes I had felt I had been missing something that I
originally wanted to get from my bread baking, the actual interaction with
the dough, kneading it on my counter for awhile. So I let myself go and
kneaded my sourdough, same recipe usual hydration wet and sticky and all, no
"autoyse step" though, for a good half hour after which it was pretty well
firmed up. I really enjoyed it and put on some music.

Anyways, after doing this I let my dough bulk proof for the usual time, only
did one stretch and fold in the middle (more like deflating and tucking
under the edges while still in the bowl) and I have been very happily
surprised with the results. Most people it seems try the no "knead
technique" after getting good with kneaded dough, I pretty much started out
with the technique, having read so much about it from the start of my bread
baking. The method certainly works, does a good job and the loaves raise
well, lots of different sized holes too, some larger than desired (due to
all the stretch an folds). Firmness at baketime seems more dependant on the
number of stretch and folds figured into the bulk rise. But the dough I
kneaded for so long got much smoother and rose even higher, with much more
uniform holes. Hey if I enjoy it, from what I understand you really cant
over knead by hand.

hutchndi