Re: 'Resting' in Panasonic Bread Machine Program

This an old string, I realize. Many bread sites explain the benefit of autolysing.

On Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 11:07:54 AM UTC-4, Tim W wrote:
> I use my bread machine a lot, normally to prepare dough. The standard Dough 
> program is three stages: Rest, Knead, Rise. Then I knock back, shape, prove 
> and bake by hand. In the 2hr 20mins it takes to go through this program the 
> first 50 mins it does absolutely nothing at all. The screen says Resting but 
> no mixing of any kind has taken place so there is dry flour, wet flour, a 
> puddle of water, unhydrated yeast, just sitting there. Can this possibly be 
> right? What purpose could it serve? Surely the ingredients need to be at 
> least mixed together first? What exactly is 'resting' in baking anyway?
> 
> I am experimenting with using the Pizza Dough program instead. That gives me 
> Knead, Rise, Knead again, Rise again all in 45mins. Then I can set it aside 
> a while to rest.
> 
> Tim W