Baking Bread - a little help.

[Patler]

AUTOLYSE WAS THE ANSWER ! ! ! !

I made cinnamon rolls this morning, making the dough in my stand mixer. Nothing different from the last time I made dough (when the dough turned out lousy) EXCEPT, after getting the dough mixed, I let it sit for 20+ minutes. Then I kneaded with the stand mixer as per before. The dough turned out absolutely wonderful! Smooth, easy to work with.

At least for today, the rest period after mixing and before kneading in the machine made a huge difference.

I usually make breads more often that this, but have been traveling a lot on weekends to my kids the last 2 months. Besides, I had become frustrated, and really didn't look forward to making any. After today, fresh breads on weekends may become the norm again!

[MJZiggy]

My sweetie made waffles this morning and followed the same recipe as normal, but I'd run out of flour so he made them with bread flour. Best waffles I've ever had. Not even close. I'm tempted to not buy more regular flour except that his coffee cake is better with the regular flour than it is with the whole wheat flour. I wonder what happens when you make that with bread flour...

[Patler]

AUTOLYSE WAS THE ANSWER ! ! ! !

I made cinnamon rolls this morning, making the dough in my stand mixer. Nothing different from the last time I made dough (when the dough turned out lousy) EXCEPT, after getting the dough mixed, I let it sit for 20+ minutes. Then I kneaded with the stand mixer as per before. The dough turned out absolutely wonderful! Smooth, easy to work with.

At least for today, the rest period after mixing and before kneading in the machine made a huge difference.

Two for two! It worked even better today.
A period of rest after mixing and before kneading has made a huge difference for me and my recipes using a stand mixer!