May 1, 2020 - 10:07am
Kneading time between hand and mixer
A lot of recipes call to "knead for X minutes". Now typically I don't like to work too hard, so I'll let my stand mixer do the work. However, given the motor on the mixer is more powerful than my hands, should I assume that kneading time in the mixer is shorter than by hand? e.g. if a recipe calls to knead for 5 minutes by hand, should I assume it's half that time in the mixer? In many cases the recipe doesn't even explicitly mention kneading by hand or mixer.
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If you're on the lowest setting of your mixer (which you should almost always be for bread dough), then the time difference shouldn't be too substantial. Maybe 1-4 minutes less? Depends on how long the recipe calls for kneading. It's better to go off of sight and feel anyhow when judging whether or not dough is finished kneading. A lot of recipes will describe the feel of the finished dough, like "smooth and supple," "tacky but not sticky," "lifts off the side of the bowl," etc.
Also, whaaaaat? Kneading dough is so fun! It's like playdoh but actually edible lol.
haha I don't disagree, sometimes I do enjoy kneading by hand. But I get a bit lazy occasionally. It's interesting what you say about going based off feel. I've heard that before, I just don't have sufficient experience to know what that feel exactly is and it's challenging to go based off a description or video. So I try a combination of time + feel. Sometimes I'll do the "windowpane test" or whatever it's called. Not sure if it applies to all recipes though. Luckily there is some margin of error in this field, otherwise I'd never have any bread come out :)
Maybe one day when this madness ends I can take a real baking class and have someone show me what that feeling is I'm looking for.
I usually mix with the paddle for 3 or 4 mins then 6 to 10 mins with the dough hook. Lovely soft, supple dough.