I've been using an autolyse method for about a year now and I can say it has definitely improved my breads. A couple of things I didn't see you touch on (though I may have missed them) are (1) when kneading by hand mixing in the salt is not too much of an issue. It feels gritty at first, but you can tell when it's incorporated well (as someone who enjoys kneading dough by hand this is a fun step for me); (2) in my experience autolyse helps tremendously in doughs that have a high whole wheat content. Whole grains take longer to absorb water and giving them that rest without salt to compete for water goes a long way towards a delicious bread. I'd love to see a similar experiment with 60%-100% whole wheat flour to see whether it's just in my head :)

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