Eating Healthier in Today's World

Bread Making Equipment--Food Processors

This is nothing like the satisfaction of making bread by hand, feeling the dough develop its own life and supple strength as you knead it in a rhythm as old as mankind, etc--but, if you make a LOT of bread or have a time schedule that is snugger than tight, or if you have a physical problem that makes kneading difficult, (or like me-- just don't like to cook a lot and want to get out of the kitchen faster), it is a whole lot better to use a dough hook or food processor than to give up the idea of making your own bread.

Most readily available, and admirably efficient, is the now ubiquitous food processor, fitted with a special dough blade.  Some brands even have a special WHOLE WHEAT DOUGH BLADE.  Whole wheat dough is substantially different from white flour dough, and the method to make it takes in these differences into account, but please compare them with those of your own machine's manufacturer before you begin.  We like the Omega Food Processor as it not only has a large and small bowl for processing it also has the dough hook for makine these small batch bread recipes.

Most processors can handle only one loaf at a time, and sometimes only part of one, but they are so fast that if you have nerves of steel, you could do several loaves in sequence in less time than it would take you to knead two loaves by hand.  (Better yet, since it is so quick and easy, do one loaf at a time, and bake often)  When you want to prepare a standard two-loaf recipe, measure out the ingredients for each loaf separately, with the exception of the yeast.  Prepare the yeast according to the directions on the package (or if you are using the SAF instant yeast, you can just add it in with the flour), and then when it is time to add it to the bowl, stir it thoroughly and pour in just half.

Keep in mind that the pitfall of using this wonder divice is that it works so fast and so efficiently that it is very easy to overknead the dough, Stop the machine often and and feel the dough to see whether it is ready.  It should be soft yet a little sticky.

Mixing & kneading whole wheat bread food processor:  Dissolve the yeast in warm water required in your recipe.  Assemble all the other ingredients.  Use cool liquids for the rest of the recipe.  The processor will heat the dough by as much as 25°F because it kneads so vigorously.  If you take the temperature of your mixed ingredients before and after processing the first few times you make bread, you can learn to gauge the actual amount your own machine heats the dough, and use this information to plan how warm the water should be in future bakings.

Put the dry ingredients in the work bowl and process until mixed- about 15 sec.  Add the yeast mixture, then add the rest of the liquids in a steady stream while the processor is running.  Add them as fast as you can and still give them a chance to mix well.  If you work too slowly here, the dough will become stilff.  Ad liquid until the flour comes together as a dough ball, then stop the machine and feel the dough.

It may take a little practice to learn how much liquid to add how fast.  If the liquid measure is too much for the amount of flour, the dough will be mushy and sticky.  This will probably cause it to stick underneath the blade and strain the motor--the machine may even stop.  If it does, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula and bring the dough up over the blade and centre post.  Sprinkle a Tbsp. or two of flour over the dough and process, repeating until the dough is not so soft. 

If you're not adding enough water, the dough will be dry and hard--so much so that the blade may turn without moving the dough.  If this happens, cut the dough up, put it into the bowl, and sprinkle it with a Tbsp. of water.  Turn on the processor and, with the machine running, gradually add more water until the dough softens.

If the water has not blended evenly into the dough, the underside where the blade is turning will become very soft, and even sticky, while a hard ball forms on top.  If this happens, remove the dough and cut up the hard part.  Replace it in the work bowl with the softer part on top.  Then process the dough again, adding more water, a tablespoon at a time, if necessary to soften it.

Once the dough feels reasonably soft, process it very briefly; then feel again carefully to evaluate its water content.  Moisten your fingers with water and squeeze the dough.  It should be soft enough that you don't feel any strain on the muscles in your fingers when you squeeze it, yet not so soft that it loses all feeling of substance and feels almost runny.  (Ignore the fact that the dough ist sticky.) Process for another very short time adding water or flour a tablespoon at a time as needed to make a soft dough.

The machine will complete the kneading of one loaf's worth of dough made from high-gluten flour after about 12.5 revolutions once the dough ball suddenly falls apart and spreads against the sides of the bowl, stop the machine.  The processing has been a little too long; check the time or count, and with the next loaf, allow a little less.  Meantime, the dough is probably fine.  Remove it form the bowl, shape it into a smooth ball, and set it aside.  Process the next part of the dough if you are doing two loaves, and then go back to your recipe to let the dough have its first rise.

Keep in mind that many processors can be underpowered for doing bread dough and do not tax them so much that it burns them out.  I recommend that the motors are at least a 250 watt motor and do try to knead 1 loaf of whole wheat bread at a time.

Click here for a Small Batch Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

If all of this still seems to be too much fuss for making just a few loaves of breads have a look at how I do it with a Bosch Universal Plus making 4 loaves in 10 min.   

Here's our online Bosch video

My next post will be about using heavier duty Kitchen Machines for bread and a comparison on how they all work.