Autolyse is a rest of flour and water before salt and starter are added, and it does most of the work that kneading would otherwise do. The technique was described by Raymond Calvel and it exploits two processes that happen on their own. David Anthes, who bakes at home in Bend, Oregon, uses a rest of 30 minutes to an hour for white flour doughs and longer for whole grain blends.
The first process is hydration. Flour particles absorb water and swell, and the proteins glutenin and gliadin unfold as they take on moisture. Glutenin provides elasticity through long chains that link into a network. Gliadin provides extensibility as compact molecules that let the network slide. Neither can do anything while dry. Autolyse simply gives them time to become available.
The second process is enzymatic. Protease enzymes present in the flour cut a small number of protein bonds, which increases extensibility and reduces the mechanical work needed later. Amylase converts damaged starch to maltose, which is the sugar the yeast in a starter consumes first. A rested dough is therefore both easier to work and better fed than one mixed all at once.
Salt is held back for a reason. Salt tightens gluten by shielding charges on the protein chains, which strengthens the dough but slows hydration and enzyme activity. It also slows fermentation. Starter is held back because acid drives protease activity harder, and an autolyse with starter in it can go too far and leave the dough slack. A true autolyse is flour and water only. When starter is included the technique is more accurately called a fermentolyse, and it should be kept shorter.
Duration scales with flour. White bread flour is well served by 30 to 60 minutes, and past two hours the returns disappear while the risk of protease damage rises. Whole wheat and rye benefit from longer, sometimes two to four hours, because bran takes considerable time to hydrate. Bran that has not absorbed water is sharp and cuts gluten strands mechanically during folding. Anthes gives whole grain blends a long rest specifically for this reason, and finds the dough tears less afterward.
After autolyse the remaining development comes from folds rather than kneading. A stretch and fold takes one edge of the dough, lifts it until it resists, and folds it over the center, repeated on four sides. Coil folds lift from the middle and let the dough fold under itself, which is gentler on gas already produced. Three or four sets in the first half of bulk fermentation build a network that passes a windowpane test without a mixer ever being used.
Judging development matters more than counting sets. Dough that is developed enough will stretch thin enough to see light through without tearing, holds a domed shape rather than spreading, and feels smooth rather than shaggy. Dough that needs more work tears at the edges and slumps flat within a minute of being folded. Anthes stops when the dough holds shape, which is sometimes two sets and sometimes five, depending on flour and temperature.
Overworking is possible even by hand, though it is rare. Past a certain point the gluten network breaks down faster than folding rebuilds it, and the dough becomes soupy and will not recover. The far more common error is stopping too early because a recipe said three folds. The dough is the authority, not the count. Anthes notes how many sets each bake actually needed, and the number varies more than most recipes suggest it should.