Bread Making Question

[erastes]

I can’t even believe I typed that as a subject. Me. Baking.

I made my second loaf today – and other than I probably should have given it about another ten mins as it was a bit doughy and not crusty enough – it was fabulous.

However, I’m using Allison dried yeast and the recipe on the tin only allows for one kneading. I was always under the impression that you had to knead once, let prove, knead again (knocking back) then reshape and reprove THEN bake – but the recipe only says once and it seems to work fine.

What would be different if I did two kneadings? Is it because the yeast is dried that it only needs (L ol ) one kneading?

Comments

[aunty_marion]

I'm not too technical about it, but there are lots of options and opinions on one vs. two kneadings. For instance, there's the 'Grant Loaf', which produces a very wet dough, which only gets one kneading; then you get ones that are allowed to prove for absolutely ages and are not knocked back. Mostly, I think (do you want me to go and get The Bread Bible and see what it says?), loaves will benefit from being punched/knocked back, kneaded *BRIEFLY* a second time, and allowed to rise again before baking. It allows the gluten to develop more. But if you've kneaded well the first time, and the recipe allows for it, you may not need a second go.

I'm still working on my bread (so to speak!), and have concluded that I should probably knead more, and allow to rise for longer. I acquired a new mixer a while back which has dough hooks, so I've been using those to give it an initial mix and knead, and then doing a bit more by hand.

[erastes]

no - thanks that's useful!

It's probably more rustic than many loaves but the one we get from tesco - multigrain is quite rustic too. I'm glad that it's something i can work on, and experiment with and see how things change as i work on it!

[aunty_marion]

If you can get hold of a copy of The Bread Bible, it's very useful! It has lots of information on *how* and *why* things work, as well as recipes, and loads of tips - things like not using metal to mix sourdough with, not using plain tap water (use filtered water or boiled & cooled water) because the chlorine kills the yeast, and so on.

ETA: This version is the one I have, but there's also this which appears to be a version without the bread-machine stuff. Mind you, the bread-machine section has some useful recipes anyway which can be adapted to hand baking!