Totally find to use cold water!

Great questions here. Yes, I classify flour milled within a few weeks “fresh.” It’s I would definitely try reducing the autolyse time of the dough, it likely doesn’t need any extra time! From there, reducing hydration will also help. But that would be my order of operations: 1) reduce auto time, 2) reduce hydration. Sorry for the delay and so glad to hear I’ve been a help!

I haven’t found a way to undo what’s been done in this way!

Due to my schedule, I have been mixing the flour/water for a long(ish) autolyse of 2.5-3 hrs (I go to the gym during this time which is another necessary part of my life). Then I proceed to add in starter/rest 20-30 min; then add in salt/remaining water; rest a few min, then complete mixing / developing gluten before 6 S&Fs as in the Tartine method.

BUT – I am also now playing with flours and have found Barton Springs Mill delivers quickly to us (we are in area). I love the Rouge de Bordeaux “00” and also have ordered the RdB whole wheat version. My last bake I used RdB “00” 550g; King Arthur bread flour 150g; and RdB WW 300g (purposely increased whole grain also).

I increased hydration to 78% (780g) due to “thristy flours” and wanting to find the open crumb/pudding texture. Now I am reading more about how the “fresh milled flours” may not do so well with such a long (if any) autolyse and I am wondering if this is perhaps why my recent bake spread out (rather than springing up).

If I order from a local mill and the flour is in my pantry for several weeks… is that “fresh milled?” or is “fresh milled” only when you mill it directly ahead of use? My bake was delicious and texture was wonderful. I’m just missing the higher rise and more open crumb. Advice?

New baker here and I find it quite difficult to examine the differences when I do this and this, what if I do that and that… At the moment, struggling with the dough basically; still delicious though 🙂

I autolyze with ice cold water. I do this because the dough warms quickly with a Kitchenaid mixer. And my kitchen is quite warm… Is this a good idea? Would it negatively effect my dough and make it harder to work with?

You are a gracious man, sir!😉

Hey, DB! Not unwilling, not afraid, your comment was just sent to comment purgatory. Whenever there’s a link attached it flags it as spam and I missed it.

So there are many conflicting sources on the pronunciation of this word, I totally agree with you there! I learned by pronouncing it how I have it spelt above as “auto-leese”, but I can see how in the West we’d pronounce with a “z” sound at the end there.

I wouldn’t say dictionary.com is the end all source for all things words and pronunciation, though. Again, it’s very much up to interpretation and just about every baker I’ve met pronounces it the way I have it written. Not sure which way is right!

Yes, you’re absolutely right, Chris. That’s why I almost always call for holding back some water, adding it in through mixing. This lets the baker adjust the hydration of the dough to suit their environment. And as I talk about in my cookbook, pushing the hydration number high just for the sake of saying it, isn’t necessary 🙂

Thanks so much for the comments and happy baking!

You could try adding a bit more water to the autolyse to ensure all the flour is completely hydrated!