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No Hands .......... Bread Hook

pink_warm_mama_1

15 years ago

When unable to use hands to knead and using bread hook instead, how can one know when the bread hook has done its work and dough has been kneaded enough? Also, when using the bread hook and kneading is too much or too little, does this influence the rising of the bread? Thanks for any help to my 101 questions.

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Comments (4)

Jasdip
15 years ago
I'll be interested to see what our seasoned breadmakers have to say!

I have recently started making bread in my KA mixer. I just follow the instructions in the booklet....1 minute on Speed 1 and 2 minutes on speed 2. Just for good measure I knead it a bit by hand before forming into a ball to let rise.

My breads have always turned out......except my free-form loaf in the WFD Thread! LOL (I've tried that twice, and they flopped both times) I'll be using my bread pans religiously I guess.
teresa_nc7
15 years ago
Here is the method I use from Betsy Oppenneer's Bread Book:

Mixing and Kneading Bread in a Heavy Duty Electric Mixer

1.Put dry yeast and proofing water into mixer bowl; whisk, proof yeast.

2.Fit mixer paddle on.

3.Add rest of liquid ingredients (milk, eggs, butter) to the yeast/water.

4.Add half of the flour amount of the recipe and any other dry ingredients.

5.Turn mixer on medium speed (#4 on KA) and beat 2 minutes.

6.Reduce speed to low (#1) and add rest of flour 1/4 cup at a time.

7.Remove paddle, scrape well. Attach dough hook.

8.Scrape down sides of bowl, turn speed to #2 and add more flour 1 TB at a time (dough will cling to hook then spread back to sides of bowl).

9.Increase speed to #4 and knead 5 minutes. At the end of this kneading time the dough should cling to the hook and clean the sides of the bowl. If not, add flour 1 TB at a time, until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl.

10.Remove the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with a towel, let rise per the recipe or turn out dough, knead by hand a few times, form into a ball, drizzle a little oil in the mixing bowl, put dough in, swirl in bowl and turn oiled side up, cover, let rise.

Kneading by hand more than 10-12 minutes or by machine more than about 5 minutes is not usually necessary, IMO. Too short a kneading time or too wimpy a kneading style can cause the gluten to not develop and can cause the bread to not rise as high as it might. When the dough has been kneaded enough it will spring back when pushed with your finger. Also, you can see faint straightline wrinkles on the surface of the dough that indicate the gluten strands are present.

Teresa
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grainlady_ks
15 years ago
You do "windowpaning" (aka windowpane or a membrane test)- a test where you pull a small lump of dough from the ball and test it for gluten-development. The link shows what you need to know.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: YouTube - Windowpane test
pink_warm_mama_1
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks everyone. Will try your methods and choose the one that works best for me.

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