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The day I realized I was overkneading my dough for 10 years
So I was at this baking workshop in Brooklyn last spring, and the instructor watched me work my sourdough for a few minutes. She just said real quiet, "You can stop now. You passed the windowpane test about 5 minutes ago." I had no idea what she was talking about. Turns out I had been kneading my bread until it was basically tough and dense because I thought more kneading meant more gluten development. I was doing 15-20 minutes by hand every time, my arms aching, thinking that's what it took. She showed me the windowpane test right there - stretch a little piece of dough until it's thin enough to see light through, and if it doesn't tear, you're done. I had been ruining my loaves for a whole decade without knowing. Has anyone else had a baking technique they found out they were doing totally backwards?
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joseph_adams6628d ago
10 years of arm pain for hockey puck bread, that's brutal. @julia_miller24 is right though, I watched a video where a guy just folds his dough four times and gets a better crumb than my 20 minute arm workout ever gave me.
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