October 4, 2014 - 9:31pm
Another one bites the dust
First I wore out a KA 6qt mixer. Now I've about killed a Bosch Universal Plus. Believe it or not, it was not heavy dough that did it in this time. It was a smoothie. I should have learned long ago that multi-purpose machines do plenty but most of it poorly.
After adding the blender attachment and enjoying several smoothies, the blender decided to let one drain into the machine. Nice. Now the BUP sounds like a saw. I do not know if it can be salvaged.
So, I'm making bread by hand. In doing this it appears that the crumb is a bit drier or more crumbly than when I used a mixer. I have yet to master the art of hand kneading. I shall endeavor to persevere. (That's a line from a movie, btw.)
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I just returned a mini oven that has an integrated hob. Did neither too well. Just but a far cheaper mini oven only and works a treat.
I killed the gears on both of my KA's so I bought the Universal Plus and only use the mixer and wouldn't even consider using the blender. I already have a real good KA blender so it would never cross my mind.
Good luck.
I've never used a mixer for bread - it just sort of never occurred to me. I don't think it was usual for home bakers back when I first started baking, though of course there was no internet then so it's not as if I had much of a community to interact with or to poll. Still, FWIW I don't remember ever seeing mention of mixers in any of the recipes I worked from - it was just assumed that everything would be done by hand, and so that's what I did and still do, and I'm fine with it; in fact, I like it. Which is just as well, because I don't own a mixer that could handle dough.
Mind you, I don't mean to suggest that there's anything wrong with using a mixer! If I were working on a larger scale I'd probably have one and use it all the time. But... I do think that you lose something as a baker if you don't have some familiarity with working dough by hand. Or more to the point that you gain something if you do. Dough is a living thing and we have a relationship with it. You can have an epic friendship with someone you've only met over the internet, but meeting that friend in real life is a different experience and it adds dimension and texture to the relationship. That's a bit fanciful, but I think it's kind of analogous. You may not need to be F2F with your dough for all interaction, but it's nice to get together in person now and then - I think both parties benefit. ;-)
Flour, Water, Salt and Yeast (of some type) and Your Hands. Sounds simple. I seem to be having trouble getting the knack of hand kneading. I do it until I think the dough is correct. I even do the window pane test. The breads rise nicely and bake correctly. But I'm never sure that the dough is properly kneaded when I do it by hand.
Keep in mind that I primarily use freshly milled flour. It just seems denser or something. It works and I have not had kneading problems when using a capable mixer. I have a sourdough levain in the fridge. If I get through the sourdough today, I may try again with the second one. Or I may wait till Tuesday when I'm off again. The refrigerated levain uses a rye culture and will be in a sourdough bread using white flour and a small amount of rye. It's the Vermont Sourdough recipe from Bread by J. Hamelman. The directions call for a mixer but I may do that one completely by hand. After the noise last night, I'm retiring the Bosch until I can get it repaired or find a way to open it and clean it.
What exactly is the "window pane test"?
I have had to resort to using a KA mixer for half of my kneading time as I just do not have the arm muscles to do a good kneading the whole time. I actually get a cramp! I have been making my own bread off and on since 1975 as I am allergic to soybean. I was baking bread out of necessity in the 70's not for fun. Two loaves a week minimum. Now I am making bread for enjoyment and experimenting more with sourdough etc. Enjoying the aid of this site!
You can google this for a video that can show it better than I can explain it. Basically you take a small piece of the dough in question, gently flatten and stretch it thin until you can see light through it. If it won't stretch and just tears, more kneading is required.
If you see the Bertinet video or the one with Simon, you'll see a method of kneading that relies more on the incorporation of air into the dough than muscle work. Although the Simon video does require more muscle to sling the dough like he does. The Bertinet video is from the book Dough and is gentler.
I'm munching on some sourdough I baked this afternoon. It ain't by the book and I used a pan and a lower temperature to bake it but it tastes just fine. I'll use it for sandwiches this week.