Tom Stanton > wrote in message=20
...

> "jonathan sands" > wrote in message
> om...

> > Here's some more evidence for the "no kneaders". I make my big hole
> > boule by mixing the ingrediants until the flouris moistened, waiting
> > for a one hour autolyse and then kneading only long enough to
> > incorporte the salt. The bread rises fine, has big holes, paper =
thin
> > cellular walls, etc. etc.
=20
> Hmmm... I hadn't really thought about it, but that is what we are =
doing
> isn't it? In fact, with short knead times, low amounts of naturally =
occuring
> yeast, and high hydration we are really just doing a form of autolyse?
> Granted I add all the ingredients before I start the rest period - its =
just
> like an autolyse. Well, there you go. Learn something new everyday.

These short posts are very nice, especially as they point up that=20
things are much simpler than they had seemed, and that holey=20
grail of SD is simply a bluebird in our backyard, for which most=20
of us, in our fury to do things in a very complex manner, have=20
never even looked.

Now that you guys are here, maybe you can explain the mechanism=20
and the expected result of the "autolyse" process. The=20
similarity of the bakers' word "autolyse" to the biochemists' word=20
"autolysis" might convey that an enzymatic digestion is involved.=20
However, the view that is most commonly reflected at r.f.s. is=20
that during the autolyse, some aggregation of glutinous proteins=20
occurs, amounting to passive kneading. Recently opinions have=20
been offered that suggest that autolysis may involve the=20
enzymatic conversion of polysaccharides to sugars. Can some=20
light be shed?=20

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DickA