September 27, 2014 - 7:57pm
Approaches to kneading? - please ignore
I'm sorry about the 'noise'. I've just seen a similar topic. How can I delete this one?
I've been doing a lot of reading and experimenting with different recipes and sources of recipes. I came across Dan Lepard's book The Handmade Loaf and have noticed that he has a different approach to kneading the dough.
He seems to like mixing all the ingredients together, letting them sit for 10 minutes and then kneading for 10 seconds. He does that three or four times and then leaves it sit until it has doubled.
So I'm wondering how, and if, that produces a different loaf. I'm more used to the knead for 10 minute approach once the ingredients are all wet. And I quite like the physicality of that approach.
Any ideas?
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There are many ways to develop gluten and Dan's way is just one of them. The gluten will develop quite well on its own with a minimum of hands on time. Each time you knead it again you will see how much stronger the dough has become simply by sitting for a time after a brief kneading session.
If kneading for a full 10 minutes is what you prefer to do then there really isn't any reason to change what you are doing. Using your method with his formulas will not change the final loaf. I have used his method and followed it precisely and I have used his formulas and mixed the dough in my mixer. If one were to compare the outcomes one would never know how the dough had been handled prior to baking.
The art of making a delicious loaf of bread is quite flexible. :*)
Take Care,
Janet
Thank you Janet. I'm having my second go at my first lot of sourdough. I have a starter that I have only just got up to readiness. Yesterday's effort wasn't great, but today's is looking better so far - and I'm kneading it my way.
I agree with Janetcook. There are many ways to make bread, and other things. If you have a method of of making bread or anything else, you are satisfied with it, it is not harming anyone or the environment, and it is not illegal -- that is the right way, for you!
Ford
The main difference between the two methods is that the fold and stretch method usually uses a slightly wetter dough that allows the gluten to form over time rather than through the force of kneading. Both have good loaves after baking but the wetter dough performs better in a loaf pan than as a free formed loaf on a sheet pan, and the wetter dough promotes larger air bubbles in the dough.
The stretch and fold method is currently my favorite one for home baking because it doesn't require me to clean my mixer afterwards, and I enjoy the interactive nature of the process.
is what I use for all my breads that are not high hydration. For me it works and "makes sense" because the chemical reactions and gluten development take time once you have mixed the flour and water. As the song goes "you cant hurry love" so I just don't get the point of trying to knead the hell out of dough before those processes are well underway. I believe this is why the old traditional kneading techniques of painstakingly massaging the dough right from the off are so difficult for many people. You are literally fighting the dough before it's had time to develop. I find with the 10 second knead you can feel when the dough starts to resist and has reached the point where it needs further time to develop and relax before you then knead it again. The 10 second knead is simple, effortless, good for older people or people with artritis and in total you end up kneading for only 40 seconds ! What's not to like ?
For higher hydrations it's slap n fold or stretch n fold but again I'm mindful that this is done between intervals which allow the gluten to develop. So overall, I tend to support any kneading technique that follows a cycle of knead-rest-knead-rest and so on.