On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1017

legendary French bread authority,
Raymond Calvel, to compensate for some
of the disadvantages of rapid industrial
production. It has also been adopted by
many artisan bakers. Autolysis involves
combining only the flour and water and
letting them sit for 15–30 minutes before
addingtheleaveningandsalt.Accordingto
Calvel, this initial preparation gives the
starch and the gluten proteins a chance to
absorb as much water as possible without
the interference of salt, and allows the
gluten chains to shorten more (autolysis
means “self-digestion”). The result is a
doughthat’seasiertomanipulate,requires
less kneading and therefore less exposure
tooxygen,andsobetterretainsthewheat’s
lightgoldencolorandcharacteristictaste.
Dough Development: Kneading Once the
ingredientshavebeenmixedandthedoughis
formed, the process of dough development


begins.Whetherthedoughiskneadedbyhand
or in an electrical mixer, it undergoes a
similar kind of physical manipulation: it is
stretched,foldedover,compressed,stretched,
folded, and compressed many times. This
manipulation strengthens the gluten network.
It unfolds the proteins further, orients them
side by side and encourages the development

of many weak bonds between neighbors. The
glutenin molecules also form strong end-toendbondswitheachotherandthusacohering
networkofextensiveglutenchains.Thedough
graduallygetsstiff,hardertomanipulate,and
takes on a fine, satiny appearance. (If the
doughisworkedsohardthatmanyend-to-end
bonds start breaking, its overall structure
breaks down, and the dough becomes sticky
and inelastic. Overdevelopment is a real
problem only when kneading is done
mechanically.)