Kneading dough

Kneading dough does not mean mixing. Mixing would be an appropriate term for simply gathering together the components of a dough or, appropriately for this treatise on kneading, for making a dough with rye flour, or barley flour, where there is virtually no gluten present. The point about “kneading” is that it is a purpose verb, which refers to the process of development of dough, in particular, dough made with wheat flour. Proper development means initially the formation of gluten, to be followed by the process of teasing and manipulating that gluten until it is a well-formed and stretchy entity. That process is done by the task of kneading.