Making dough in food processor

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junehawk on 4 Feb 2008 at 09:26

I have only ever made dough by hand or in a stand mixer so I have no idea how making in a food processor goes.  Do you just use the normal blade or, if you have one, do you use the dough blade (plastic) that comes with it?  I have a Kitchenaid 12 cup processort which comes with the plastic dough blade and I wonder if that is actually better than the regular blade.  TIA!

 

June 

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zolablue on 4 Feb 2008 at 11:42

From everything I've read about making dough in the FP, including Maggie Glezer's book, Artisan Baking, you will have better results just using the metal blade rather than the so-called plastic dough blade. I know of other people who use the FP and always use the metal blade and that's what I've used as well the handful of times I tried mixing dough in the FP.

 

It is not something I like to do so I can't give you any other advice but some people can make it work. You are just limited in recipes that can work in the FP but if you stick to basic dough it should work fine.

 

Although I prefer not to use the FP to make bread, I do have a few things I've picked up:

Your ingredients need to be cold.  The FP really heats up the dough.  Even if you're using instant yeast, proof it in a teeny amount of warm water to make sure you don't kill it.

A few minutes' rest is good to let the dough get hydrated.

I've found it hard to keep the dough from getting under the blade (metal is best), but maybe that's just me.  If you prefer, you can get a batter going in there a bit to work up the gluten, then take it out and knead in the rest of the flour by hand.  The batter-like dough doesn't get under the blade like a regular dough would.

SOL

June, you might check out Rose's site where some time ago she gave the recipe for a great ricotta bread made in the processor. I made it but found that my Cuisinart wasn't big enough. Even so the bread was good, very light and tender. Good luck, A.
There is a book titled "The Best Bread Ever" by Van Oher.  It's all food processor recipes, and he gives plenty of detail for the process.  I made a few and they were good. 
I got the best results using the FP to mix the ingredients, then kneading by hand.  I actually found it easier to mix by hand in a bowl and knead on the counter, rather than drag out the FP, assemble, mix, pull it out of the bowl, then disassemble and wash the FP parts.

the heat is a real issue since most doughs need to come out of the mixer at about 75 degrees

but the problem is the mixing action of a FP Iis to rough and will tear or completly distroy the gluten resulting in a poor dough

we would never mix a dough in an FP

baker Retired