February 13, 2007 - 11:00pm
Kneading Surfaces
Just curious to see if anyone had any preferences for what surface they knead their dough on. I've kneaded on plastic cutting boards, stainless steel counters, granite counters, and most recently, formica counters.
I prefer the granite, as the dough sticks less, though it can also cool the dough down. I've also had a lot of success on stainless steel. Plastic, on the other hand, seemed to make the dough stick a lot more.
Any thoughts?
I use a counter-saver that I bought 30 years ago. It was made by Corning and is of the same material as white CorningWare. It used to have little rubber feet, but I removed those. Now I put it on the counter, spray it with Pam, and knead on it. The dough can rest on it between folds, covered with my glass mixing bowl. I suppose it does cool down the dough a bit, but I like a cool, long rise anyhow. The BEST part -- I can take it to the sink and wash it thoroughly. I even put it in the dishwasher once, but I'm afraid it might break, so don't do that any more.