The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Dough woes

DohBoy's picture
DohBoy

Dough woes

I spent much of today in the kitchen baking.  I atempted my grandmother's Cardamom Bread recipe again.  Twice before it turned out beautifully.  This time, the doe was a disaster.  I have no clue as to what went wrong.  It was way too sticky. In the mixer, the dough would not set up properly, it looked more like a lumpy loose pudding.  It was not a pretty dough.  I tried correcting this by adding more flour, but I fearI overmixed the dough.  I made the braids for the finished product, Cardamom Braids.  but the dough was too elastic, and wanted to flatten. 

 Any thoughts or correction tips?

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2399843880065247733RjnPjE

Thanks, DohBoy

spsq's picture
spsq

I'm no expert by any means, so take this with a grain of salt.  I remember reading in a bread book - peter reinhart? - that dough can be overmixed in a standup mixer.  It's something like this:  mixing by dough hook heats up the dough (whereas your hands almost never would) and once it passes a certain point, the dough turns slack and sticky.  The gluten strands have been broken, and in fact, the dough is irretreivable at this point.  I noticed in your other post that you recently purchased a stand mixer, so this may have been the problem.  More knowledgable people than me may be able to correct/ammend this advice though.  Good luck!

 

P.S.   Cardamom bread?  Sounds delicious!!!!!

DohBoy's picture
DohBoy

Thanks, good info to know.  Yet this leaves me wondering; does anyone else use a standup mixer? 

 I was able to make my caramom braids from this dough; I was fighting it all through the shaping phase.  It's a sweet bread, so it tasted sweet and quite good, but not as sweet as my first batch.  One thing I jest thought of, the dough in the first batch was considerably warmer than the second batch.  I wonder if I didn't get the milk heated to the proper temp.

I;ll have to post the cardaom braid recipe later.