window pane test

To try to document dough development of a lean dough, I created a video of mixing some lean, 59% hydration dough in my KitchenAid 5qt mixer at speed #2 (the 2nd click). 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBZFYzeK1Vo

I'm trying to get a better idea of knead times for my mixer with respect to different doughs. Hamelman in "Bread" says 6.5 - 7.5 minutes for moderate gluten development for KAid stand mixer. He recommends 900-1000 total revolutions for moderate dough development, so with some info from fthec and KAid:

#1 (stir): 40 rpm 
#2: 54 rpm 
#3: 79 rpm 
#4: 104 rpm 

 This means:

According to the stats, I may still have kneaded for too short of a time (H. also says that doughs with hydration under 60% will take longer to develop, as will doughs that have high hydration). It really started smoothing out at about 8 minutes, even more substantially at ~13 minutes. I guess next time I'll have to push it further, and see what happens. 

Today I passed my windowpane test with flying colors.

The strawberry season around here starts early this year. We had a nice spell of dry sunny spring weather. That is all any decent strawberry asks for to taste as delicious as they do in these perfect circumstances.

I am making a dessert involving a toasted piece of brioche, strawberries, black pepper mint and honest vanilla ice cream. It's a Belgian recipe. It's name caught my attention. It translates into "Lost Bread" and I found that to be a captivating image. In Flemish it sounds way smoother; "verloren brood"

Basically it's French toast with strawberries and ice cream. And that is just the perfect dessert to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary, as well as the fact that we booked our tickets to a sunny beach on the wonderful Spanish Island of Ibiza. I am already hunting the net for info on where to find some bakeries over there. Any tips from locals or savvy travelers are appreciated.

Anyhow. I was particularly proud of my window pane test this time. I should thank Kitchen Aid for it anyway ;-) I love my new baby!

happy baking every one