sunil.page

The need to knead

Friday, 3rd April 2020 ◆ Boy studies baked goods (6) ◆ Comments (4)

Whenever I try and make bread, I follow these steps:

1. Mix water, flour, salt, yeast
2. Combine into a dough
3. Knead
4. Leave to rise
5. Knead
6. Bake

I am lazy, though, and am curious if the lengthy kneading at stages 3 and 5 really makes any difference.

So, I decided to test it out. I made four rolls with each combination of kneads: before and after, before only, after only and neither.

I was hoping to have seen a difference in the way the rolls rose in the oven, but they were all the same size. And after cutting them open... they were all pretty much the same too.

Conclusions:

• I have been wasting my time kneading dough
• I am not making bread properly

I would be curious to see the results from someone who is actually good at baking...