Need help with small batches and stiff doughs in Electrolux DLX...
hi folks -
since i'm planning to bake all of our daily bread, i decided to splurge and get the electrolux dlx mixer. but i'm running into problems. i know that the dlx involves a learning curve and that there are many folks on this forum who use it, so i was hoping to get some help and advice.
one thing that i like to make regularly is a batch of dough for making indian flatbreads called rotis. it's an extremely simple dough that uses only flour (a special type of wheat flour called "atta flour") and water. my typical proportions are 750g of flour and 450g of water. i tried making this in the dlx, using the suggestion of leaving the roller's knob loose, starting it halfway up the single line for a couple of minutes, then increasing the speed. the dough came together but after increasing the speed the roller was really slamming hard against the rim after the dough passed by it, so i locked down the knob with the roller about 1/2 inch away. the problem is that it seemed like the dough was passing by the roller without really much kneading going on...it seemed like the dough was pretty easily pushing the roller out towards the center of the bowl.
i also tried making one loaf of the "light wheat bread" recipe from peter reinhardt's "bread baker's apprentice." it calls for 11.25 ounces of bread flour, 6.75 ounces of whole wheat flour, and 10 ounces of water (along with a couple tablespoons of butter). again, it seemed like the rough-ish dough ball was going around and around, past the roller, without a whole lot of kneading happening. in this case, i made another identical batch using a zojirushi bread maker to do the kneading, as a comparison. as i suspected, i think i didn't use the dlx properly because the batch from the zojirushi rose higher and seemed lighter than the one from the dlx.
i haven't tried making larger batches yet and maybe that's where the dlx really excels. but i know there will be frequent times when i'll need smaller batches and if the dlx won't do well in those situations then it might not be the right machine for me (in which case, any suggestions?) ideally, i'd like a machine that can do both small batches and larger ones equally well. i'm still hopeful that the dlx is the solution and that i just need to do something differently than i currently am.
thanks,
cc