Questions about making yeast dough

13 years ago

Tonight I used my new mixer to make Alton Brown's pretzels. I have never used yeast before and I am very pleased with how they turned out.

However... I admit I don't know what I was doing when making the dough.

Here are the directions:

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.

In the video, he mixes the water, yeast, salt and sugar and adds it to the flour which is already in the mixer bowl. I did that but when I started the mixer with the dough hook on it, the dough hook just wasn't picking up the flour at the sides and bottom of the bowl. I kept stopping the mixer and scraping the bowl. Finally, it all came together and formed a "ball" on the dough hook. Round and round it went then suddenly no more ball and dough was on the hook and in the bottom of the bowl again. I stopped it that point and scraped into into another bowl to rise.

It did work ok -- it rose ok but my question is -- at what point is it "done" in the mixer? Is it when it is all stuck on the hook and flailing around?? Why didn't my dough come together in the beginning more easily? Should I have added the liquid, then the flour a little at a time???

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Comments (9)

lindac
13 years ago
You did fine....stop the mixer and scrape and when it's all mixed and nice and elastic...it's done.
hawk307
13 years ago
Stir fryi:
Did you adjust the Dough Hook depth to the Bowl ???
It has to be adjusted down but not rub on the Bowl.

Instructions should be in your Manual.

As you add more flour, it will pick up the flour on the sides of the bowl,
as the dough comes near to being a ball.
You can stop and scrape the sides a few times.

The dough should not be sticky.
Many times I'll take the Dough from the bowl, before time and finish mixing on the worktop.
That way I can feel it and add just enough flour to keep it soft, not too stiff .

LOU
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teresa_nc7
13 years ago
Next time, maybe you could try the water and sugar in the mixer bowl first, add yeast, mix well, let stand 5 minutes - then start adding in the flour, a cup at a time, the butter, then the salt. I usually use the paddle/beater attachment to mix the ingredients, switching to the dough hook for the last cup or two of flour. Knead with the dough hook on speed 4 for about 5 minutes after all the flour is in and your dough should be ready.

There are many different methods to reach the same end. This is just what I do when mixing bread recipes in a mixer. Now.....what will be the next recipe you try?

Teresa
readinglady
13 years ago
Bread is pretty forgiving and it sounds like a great first effort to me.

You might butter your dough hook before kneading to reduce the dough "hanging on."

Carol
cloudy_christine
13 years ago
Carol, what a good idea! Why didn't I ever think of that?
hawk307
13 years ago
Carol:
Good one.
But you told me; one time, to rub the hook with Veg. Oil.
Are you playing favorites? LOL!!!
LOU
lowspark
13 years ago
the dough hook just wasn't picking up the flour at the sides and bottom of the bowl.

My experience exactly. Which is why, regardless of instructions to use the dough hook for mixing in most recipes, I don't do it that way. I use the paddle to mix the dough. Once it is mixed into a cohesive ball, THEN I switch to the dough hook for purposes of kneading.

It's a bit more effort to use two attachments and scrape all the dough off of the paddle, but it seems to work much better that way IMO.

The paddle is made for mixing. The dough hook is made for kneading.
stir_fryi SE Mich
Original Author
13 years ago
lowspark -- I think that is what I will do next time (paddle then dough hook).

I used the paddle to make a double batch of choc chip cookies and it worked perfectly with no scraping -- so I really don't want to adjust the attachment height and mess it up.

Next try tomorrow -- pizza dough!
stir_fryi SE Mich
Original Author
13 years ago
Ok -- tried pizza dough (recipe from the mixer booklet) -- didn't love it.

It was too thick and dense. It said to punch down dough -- I punched about 3-4 times -- did I do bad??? the bottom browned but the outside crust remained pale.

It was very easy to put in the pizza pan -- when I have bought pizza dough at the bakery it is always hard to stretch out -- mine was not.

Oh well, win some, lose some.

Questions about making yeast dough

Comments (9)

lindac

hawk307

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Questions about making yeast dough

Comments (9)

lindac

hawk307

Related Discussions

teresa_nc7

readinglady

cloudy_christine

hawk307

lowspark

stir_fryi SE MichOriginal Author

stir_fryi SE MichOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

stir_fryi SE Mich
Original Author

stir_fryi SE Mich
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