Kneading is the Foundation
I have always found it odd that in many bakeries there is very little emphasis placed on the importance of dough making, which of course involves kneading – usually done by machines in commercial bakeries. During the induction of newcomers to the trade, and apprentices, the training programmes are often conducted in a hurry, with insufficient weight given to teaching the skills needed by a responsible dough maker.
It is very careless to underrate this primary task. How possibly can good bread be turned out of the oven at the other end of the process if its starting point has been poor quality dough? Dough making is the first and the most basic process, and it sets the foundations for the prospect of good bread to follow.
Understanding the role of gluten
The verb “to knead” is a purposeful verb and it certainly does not mean simply ‘to mix’. What it really means is to develop dough. Kneading a shaggy paste into developed dough requires an understanding of gluten, the substance that gives viscosity and stretchiness to wheat flour dough. The function of the gluten in breadmaking is to trap the gas being made by the feeding yeast, enabling the dough to be puffy and voluminous – a state that depends entirely on the quality and proper development of the gluten. To find out about the flour’s gluten you must add the liquid part of the dough. A simple definition will help: gluten is formed when liquid joins the non-soluble proteins in the flour.
HAND-KNEADING, on the bench
Around the world one encounters different methods for hand-kneading wheat flour dough. Whatever method chosen, to be any good it must involve a technique that gives the dough a forceful manipulation that stretches the gluten.
English method
The typical English dough is firmer than Continental ones, and the classic English kneading style is gainfully employed: the leading hand drives forward, pressing the dough down and grinding it along the bench as far as you can comfortably reach. I stand beside the novice student chanting “long stroke, long stroke” as encouragement. The tool that performs the long stroke is the heel of the palm. It performs the task of rubbing a lump of dough along the bench better if the fingers are outstretched rather than being bunched into a fist. If they are bunched or curled back to try to grip the dough, it tends to shorten the stroke. I must stress it is important to achieve a long stroke. The support hand is active, tidying the mass and systematically folding it over to present new material to be drawn under the palm of the forward-driving hand.
With practice the task becomes rhythmic, and most people agree that it is pleasant exercise. In time the kneader develops the skill of flicking backwards into the mass the messy stretched out dough as the lead hand is drawn back ready for the next stroke. Until that ‘flick-back’ skill is mastered the kneader can be frustrated by ragged deposits of dough that are left stuck on the bench at the end of the long stroke. When a dough is abnormally slack or sticky then it must be helped off the bench and back into the mass by being scraped back regularly with the scraper tool.
The kneader will gradually feel the gluten forming as the development of the dough is taking place. Its stretchy and rubbery nature can soon be felt, and the long strokes can be achieved without lumps of dough snapping off the bulk. A shortness in the dough, which was pastry-like at the start, is giving way to the cohesive nature of the longer gluten strands that become so willing to stretch.
Pause to check how well things are going. Take a golf ball sized piece of dough, grip it with thumb and forefinger of both hands and gently pull it apart with a pulsing, jerking action. (If you pull it apart too vigorously it will snap without revealing its state). You are assessing how elastic and stretchable it is. If it can stretch to several times the width of your original golf ball piece, you are well on the way. If it snaps when it has barely doubled its length, it is telling you that it will benefit from more kneading. If you have poor quality flour for bread making, and there is insufficient gluten in it, then no amount of kneading will improve it.
Rest periods can be encouraged. If you feel tired or find that it is a struggle to become competent at kneading, take regular short breaks. You can alternate between bursts of kneading and the rest period between. At this point in my narrative it is appropriate to mention that later in this chapter there is a summary of an entire approach to kneading, the ‘passive’ approach, which makes a big play of rest periods.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF ENGLISH METHOD
1 – dough in lump on table. Lean over it to begin the stroke on the half that is further away from you, not your near side. Your kneading tool is the open palm of the hand, thrusting powerfully with the bulky part under the thumb, well back from your fingers.
2 – long push out with the dough. It is this long stroke, pressing the dough hard along the bench surface, that will develop the gluten strands.
3 – showing the fully extended position, ready to flick it back (see next picture) into the mass. Notice that the support hand is also working, as it readies to revolve the dough so that new material is placed in position for the next long stroke. This picture displays that the support hand has also tugged the dough backwards, giving it a supplementary and useful pull and stretch in the other direction.
4 – The ‘flick’ technique, with fingertips, that lifts the dough from the surface, bringing the stretched dough back into the lump, and getting it off the bench top.
5 – This final picture shows the material that has been flicked back is now joining the mass, and the support hand begins to revolve it enough to bring new material forward, ready for the next thrust outward.
