March 23, 2014 - 4:42pm
I like my plumber ...
... but I really don't want him to become my best friend. Any thoughts as to how NOT to clog up the sink? Tips or tricks?
I scrape out as much dough as I can from bowls, buckets, and so on, but no container is ever dough-free when I go to wash it. I've been letting the stuff soak, in an effort to dilute any dough bits, but am not sure if this is useful or not.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
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Have you had problems, or are you trying to avoid a potential problem? The reason that I ask is that I have never had an issue.
I'm trying to avoid problems. There have been a few times, on baking days, when my sink has drained slowly. Great news that you have never had a problem -- quite encouraging! Do you do anything special?
I soak and then scrub. Other than that, no.
With my plastic containers it is quite easy: No soaking, exactly the opposite!
If I let the dough dry, it loosens itself from the container. Sometimes it needs just a little help with a dough scraper.
This doesn't work with glass bowls, unfortunately.
I hadn't thought of that -- thanks! I will give it a go next time!
with cold water only, and avoid chasing flour water and clumps down the pipes with hot water. I dissolve flour in cold water after throwing 99.9% of the scrapings into the trash can. A spoonful of flour can help rub off sticky dough to throw away. If you have a large bowl and a big mess of spoons and tools, let them soak for a while in plain cold water to soften. Use a net (I like to recycle garlic and onion nets) to scrub soaked surfaces. Then dump the four water into a compost and not down the sink.
If you have sourdough, pouring hungry thin & watery starter down the pipes can actually clear them. Give the bacteria and yeast time to attack the flour or dough clumps and liquify them. Plug overnight to keep the pipes from drying out. Then chase with cold water the next day.
I'm very curious -- why cold water? I would have thought hot water would have been a better choice, since the dough residue seems to dissolve in that faster! So much to learn!
And I had never considered that my sourdough critters would actually help clean out the drains! Thank you!
...would be best for isolating water soluble (polar) dough components like starch, however for washing down sink where you don't care where it's going, the hotter the better. Gluten is NON-polar, so it repels water, but hot water can disrupt molecular bonds and hydrolyze (break) bonds that form the protein structure. If you really want to play it safe, use vinegar and/or isopropyl alcohol - they should also hydrolyze gluten bonds given enough time. But in general, you'll be dealing with bits of dough that are probably too small to do any real damage...
(and if worse comes to worst, better your plumber come fix a clogged sink than a clogged toilet!!)
I too let everything dry, work tops and bowls, then use my dough scraper, sweeping all the bits into my compost tub. That way there is very little to go down the drains. The issue I have is my hands whilst working the dough, I wish I could find a way of cleaning them off better without washing it down the sink. Having said that, I have not had problems with the sink so far. But then I do water down the used starter jars and wash that down the sink, because I remember reading mini's advice on here before.
I totally understand about getting hands clean! And when I turn on the faucet, and inadvertently get some dough on the handle -- my gosh that stuff is like cement!
I just scrub my hands and make the pieces as little as possible.
Then there is the issue of dough gloss sticking on the sponge. I often will use a paper towel when washing out my containers, and then throw the towel away, just to avoid that problem!
work better than most sponges for cleaning up after dough, and are invaluable for mixers, what with all the nooks and crannies. But Daubbie sponge pads are pretty good; they are covered by an open weave of plastic thread, kinda like Mini's beloved vegetable nets.
Yes it is annoying to get that dough residue building up on your fingers and palms all the time. That's why I try to use my Danish dough whisk (made in Poland) as much as possible, and avoid actually handling the dough until it is ready to shape. Alternatively, you can pick up a tub of Gojo (orange pumice soap) at the HW store. Not as harsh as Lava, you could probably use it pretty often without irritation. Smells delicious too, have to keep myself from slipping a little into the food. ;-)
Am puzzled though why the OP seems to have so much dough residue left on the equipment that it could possibly clog a sink. I only ever have that with cake batters, my bread doughs generally turn clean from the bowl. Just that whisk is a problem; would never get everything out of the coils without a stiff soapy brush.
I have no idea why I have more dough residue than usual. Maybe I am just particularly aware of it because I don't have a dishwasher, and wash every single thing by hand. When I make bread, I usually do 2 loaves at a time. I end up washing: jar starter was in, bowl leaven was in, miss en place bowls, dough scraper, rising container, measuring spoons/cups, cutting boards (for kneading and shaping, as my counters are tiled and there is grout between them) ... it just seems to go on forever.
Consider fitting your sink with a plug that traps the dough - It works for me.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/221365366207?hlpht=true&ops=true&viphx=1&lpid=95&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=95
is just to rub with a little dry flour, the dough then rolls off or rinse in that water bowl already in the sink. I use brushes too, little fingernail brushes work great.
Hot water will set you up for dough clumps and if real hot, gelatinise the gluten. Run a little test, take your kitchen sponge with flour goo and rinse with cold water to clean sponge. Now go get it gooey again (hope you saved a spot) and rinse in very hot water. Clumps will form and literally grab the sponge. Same goes for floury towels and aprons, shake & rub/brush outside and remove chunks of dough before getting wet, soak in cold water first, rinse, then laundry.
Another story... I remember helping my folks move into a house. The pipes ran slow, especially in the kitchen and since the house had stood for half a year empty, they decided to get help from a plumber.
He took apart the plumbing in the crawl space under the house and emerged back into daylight with a long 20 ft 2" pipe and stood one end up into the air (I wasn't watching that closely) banged it on a tree (I think) and out came this long snake of a goo plug onto the grass with a tiny hole no bigger than earthworm that waste water could pass thru. The pipe was now open obvious that nothing was going to unplug that drain other than what just happened. It was highly suspected that fillers from wash detergent plugged it.
We learned the pipe drained water from a bathroom sink, washing machine, kitchen and then this long pipe to the main, larger sewer pipe (4 or 5 inch) quite a distance away. The pipe from the washing machine to the kitchen was cleared in the same fashion and then everything was put back together. Went quickly and hadn't had a problem since. Did convince mom (and me) to buy detergents without fillers and plug the sinks (to prevent drying) when leaving the house for holidays. If you have a sink that drains slow, follow the pipes. Where are they coming from and where are they going? This was an unusual case of a long pipe with barely a slant for draining.
I appreciate all these suggestions. I tend to 'clean as I go' in the kitchen, but maybe waiting til everything dries a bit and brushing it off will be a better option.