Dough coming together then de-balling in mixer
Why is the dough not balling up in the mixer?
I have the same problem with every bread recipe that I try. I start with the lowest recommended amount of flour and use the paddle at a low speed (1 on KitchenAid mixer) for 2 minutes. Then I use the dough hook. I will add more flour tablespoon by tablespoon up to the maximum recommended by the recipe hoping for the dough to come together. Every time I add a tablespoon, the dough balls for a few seconds, then it falls apart again and takes up the volume of the mixer bowl. Today, I kneaded at speed 1 for 8 minutes using the maximum amount of flour and it was not balled up. I took it out and kneaded by hand without a problem. This is the recipe I tried today but I've done it with so many other recipes with the same issue.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017369-excellent-white-bread
I have a Kitchen Aid pro stand up mixer. What I usually end up with is part of the dough sticking to the hook. Then one or two 'bunny ears' flopping around the bowel. I usually drop the bowel, reincorporate the ears with a hard spat or spoon and start it up again. I've also had the entire mass climb up the dough hook. For that I leave the machine running and just drop the bowel. The dough climbs back down. I rase the bowel back up.
Like you I take it out and knead it a bit by hand.
Really! Bowl please. Bowels are quite distracting but does make for funny reading. :)
Sorry for the interruption.
http://www.seriouseats.com/images/2014/08/20140828-bread-dough-mixing-vicky-wasik-15.jpg
This basically what the dough looks like after 8 or 10 minutes of kneading. It hasn't come together in a ball at all, let alone to form bunny ears.
The additions of milk, sugar, eggs, and butter enrich the dough and make it soft and tasty. But, the richness also impedes gluten formation.
Also, if you're using large eggs, for example, that adds another 90-100mL of liquid. That puts your hydration at around 60%, but the dough in your picture looks much wetter than 60%. The melted butter contributes to this wetness too. If you live in a humid area your flour could also be "damp."
I think you could safely add a bit more flour, one tablespoon at a time like you were previously doing, until it starts to really come together.
That makes sense. The interesting thing is, despite it not coming together in the mixer, when I took it out and kneaded by hand it was fine. I'm not sure why it can't hold together in the mixer.
When you say you use the paddle for 2 minutes, it sounds like you're using the clock, rather than the condition of the dough. The picture you show looks like a soupy mixture that a dough hook couldn't really grab onto. I would use the paddle until you have a stronger dough.
Also, I recommend measuring by weight, rather than volume, and a lot of these problems go away.
True, I have been going by the clock. I will try using the paddle a bit longer next time and see what happens. Yes, I do the full flour measurement by weight but add by tablespoon as I'm going along.
Ever hear "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing..." : )
Totally agree with Tgrayson. Weighing out the flour got rid of a lot of the problems I was having as well. That digital scale has become my best cooking friend. Another good tool to have is an oven thermometer. My oven can be up to 50' off.
Yup, got those down. I use an oven thermometer (mine is actually 50 degrees F off) and a thermopen at the end of baking. I weigh everything by digital scale and only use tablespoons to add the the dough as it is mixing. But these tablespoons have already been weighed beforehand to make sure I don't go above the maximum recommended flour content.