Mixing or Kneading the dough
Hi everyone,
I'd be very grateful if someone could help me understand what I'm missing. I'm curious about what the difference is between just mixing and kneading. I recently took a bread class from a chef at great artisan bakery; The Essential Baking Co., Seattle, WA. There was so much to cover in the class I wasn't sure what we were doing when we actually did it! After the class I purchased the highly recommended Bread book by Hammelman and have since, been enjoying making bread. I guess I'm actually just doing what Hammelman says in the recipes without actually using a mixer. This is where my question really begins. In the class after we mixed the ingredients we had to pick up the dough and slap & fold it for like 10 minutes, but in Hammelman's book all that's done is mix the bread at a cetain spead for three minutes or so. So I've basically been just mixing in the bowl until I feel that the dough has changed perceptively; 2-4 minutes. I haven't kneaded the dough like we did in the class. So what am I doing wrong if anything? The bread I made actually turns out pretty good. (Everyone loves it).
I'm very interested in making the bread correctly though. So do I have to knead the dough? How do I apply Hammelman's recipes to making bread by hand? Is there some step that after mixing I should just assume to knead the dough for 15 minutes before starting the bulk fermentation and later steps? As you can tell, I probably "can't see the forest from the trees" now.
Thanks so much for your help!
Naeem