HOW TO: Knead Yeast Dough
“Kneading” is the motion required to incorporate the ingredients and develop the gluten in wheat flours. Kneading is used in both yeast and non- yeast applications, and techniques differ among cooks.
Brenda’s love of making yeast dough is a direct result of being taught the skill by her mother. Brenda’s mom taught all of her children how to make bread, and Brenda developed a particular skill for the task.
Need to knead? Here’s how:
Brenda prefers a pull-punch motion. Keep the dough in the bowl as you knead, and only use one hand. Tilt the bowl with your left hand to roll the dough into your right fingertips that will pull the dough over, followed immediately by pushing that dough with the heal of your right hand as the bowl settles back to the countertop. The motion allows a natural clockwise rotation. Continuously repeat for about 5-10 minutes and you’re done.
Wait! That’s not enough!
OK. Let’s break it down.
When making yeast doughs, you’ll know when to begin kneading the dough by hand when the dough becomes “shaggy.” That is to say, difficult to continue stirring as the mass is holding together well but flour is no longer readily incorporating.
First step is to clean the spoon (Brenda can’t abide to waste even a tablespoon of dough). Hold the spoon above your bowl of dough and dump a handful of flour on the spoon. Lightly rub with your kneading hand, dropping the dough to the bowl. The flour quickly removes all the dough, leaving none to be wasted. Set aside the spoon.
Second, pat the dough into a round, cleaning the bowl’s sides. Follow the same technique as with the spoon. Add some flour and rub the sides of the bowl, incorporating any bits into the main ball. Finish with a light dusting of flour on the bowls surface to start kneading. Brenda always keeps the dough in the bowl as she kneads.
Brenda’s favorite hands-on method is an alternating pull-punch motion. She only uses one hand to knead, pulling the dough with her fingertips and punching with the heal of her hand. As Brenda’s mom put it, “You never know when the doorbell or the phone will ring. Keep one hand clean and you won’t regret it.”
Brenda’s favorite mixing bowl is large and flat-bottomed with a concave lip. As she pulls the dough with her right fingertips, she tilts the bowl toward her with her left hand, allowing it to settle back to the countertop in the next motion of punching with the heal of her right hand. Repeating the cycle for 5-10 minutes develops the gluten and creates a smooth, elastic dough.
A few more bits . . .
Brenda adds ~ 1 tablespoon of flour at a time. There are two ways to add flour to your dough: the first is to lightly dust the top of the dough. The second is to sprinkle flour into the bowl and allow the dough to settle over the flour. Your kneading hand and the bowl should remain relatively dough-free. To achieve this, sprinkle flour lightly as soon as the dough becomes tacky. You might only need a teaspoon of flour each time.
Sprinkling flour on the dough:
Sprinkling flour on the bowl:
So when is enough enough?
Best tip: add minimal flour throughout. When the dough becomes tacky, dust as lightly as possible to continue to keep both the bowl and your hand mostly clean. This will allow you to knead the requisite time to achieve gluten development while not incorporating excessive flour. Continuously observe the texture of the dough and you’ll witness the smoothness develop.
I need a visual . . .
Consider a marshmallow. You just opened a bag and the marshmallows are so soft, but not sticky. Until you break it open — then it clings to your fingertips (see gif below). Yeast dough is similar. As you knead, you don’t want the ball to cling to your hand. But if you were to slice it open, the interior would be very sticky. It will still be sticky - on the inside - when you’re done kneading.
My arm hurts, can I stop yet??
The dough needs to be smooth and elastic, with great gluten development. There are stretch tests you can do (hello windowpane - please don’t break!), but Brenda’s mom taught her a faster way. Pause kneading and flip the ball to the smooth side. Observe the surface. Tiny blisters, slowly bursting? You’re done. Not really seeing blisters? That’s ok. If you’ve been kneading for 10 minutes then you can stop, it’s good enough for now.
Take a rest, let the dough rest, then you’ll both be ready for the next step: shaping.
