Hi all,

I have recently bought a Kenwood stand mixer, not just for mixing my bread doughs but also for other kitchen tasks. I am quite chuffed with my purchase but I am having some trouble with the timing of the mixing of bread doughs and am looking for some advice.

For my last three bakes I have used the stand mixer but the final breads have not turned out well. Last night I made some mini boules but the crumb has turned out quite dense with little air bubbles. Now I am not seeking large holes in these rolls but these were so tiny and dense that I wouldn't call them succesfull. The taste was quite alright but the overall feel when eating them wasn't what I was expecting.

The instructions that came with the machine state not to mix above setting 1, which is a moderate speed. As I have hand kneaded my doughs and have used stretch-and-folds I am having some trouble with the timing. I have tried to go by the generic instructions from Peter Reinhart's BBA of machine kneading for about 6 minutes but at 6 minutes the dough's consistancy doesn't seem right. Now I know that a dense crumb can be the result of a lot of things but can anyone please advise whether underkneading is one of them?

This morning I have put together a quick dough and initially mixed for 5 minutes and let it rest for a couple of minutes. The dough definitely hadn't come together yet, so I mixed for another 5 minutes. I repeated a couple of times and ended up with a total mix time of about 25 minutes. This seems extremely long compared to the times mentioned in the BBA. The only comparison I have when it comes to mixing times is an old bread baking machine I have used in the past. The machine would initially mix for 20-25 minutes depending on the weight of the dough. As the dough paddle in the BBM doesn't compare to the dough hook in my stand mixer I am unsure how to the mixing times compare.

To make a long story short I am looking for anyone who could give some advise or guideline on mixing time. Any input is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Peter