Eating Healthier in Today's World

 KNEADING MACHINES--HOW TO USE THEM TO MAKE WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Now we have come to my favorite subject--using a kitchen machine to make your bread dough.  These machines are called many things from a Kneading machine, heavy-duty mixer, dough making machine, or kitchen machine, bascially they will all have a dough making attachment or dough hook.  I have only see a few widely available machines that are powerful enough to handle whole wheat bread though.  I, of course, love our Bosch Universal Plus machines because they are so easy to use and make a really good job of whole wheat breads.  If you have another machine with a dough hook, try using it to knead one loaf at a time.  You'll know very quickly whether your machine can handle the job.  There are relatively inexpensive hand and electric kneaders, but we don't know of any that are good for whole wheat dough.  Check in the manuals to see if they are recommended for bread dough before you start.

There are two main considerations when looking at a heavy duty mixer.  The first is the power.  Make certain the machine you are going to use has sufficient power to knead dough.  I recommend at least 400 watts.  You can easily burn out a machine kneading bread dough, especially whole wheat bread dough as it is heavy and somewhat hard to move.  The second consideration is the design of the machine.  I have found that many machines have an overhead arm down into the dough, which the dough tends to climb up onto and get into the gears of the machine.  The kneading power is taxed because the power is coming from above and the machine may overheat as well as the dough is not getting kneaded properly and the bread doesn't rise properly because the gluten is not getting developed.   We have done a comparison chart of the Bosch and the Kitchenaid mixer which is a widely known heavy duty mixer, to see how the stand up against each other in their kneading ability. 

Bosch Universal Plus vs. Kitchen Aid Mixer

Mixing and kneading whole wheat bread with a dough hook:  We like to start with the liquids, so put all the liquids in the bowl with the dough hook attached.  This would include any oil, honey, buttermilk, eggs, water etc.  If you are using the yeast that needs to be proofed in water in advance, add this as well.  Now place about half of the flour the recipe calls for in the bowl on top of the liquids and the other dry ingredients on the top of it.  Turn the machine on it's slowest speed and watch it mix for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.  The mixter should resemble a pancake batter.  Start adding the remaining flour as the machine is going until the dough starts collecting into a soft ball.  At this point you can stop you machine and feel the consistency of the dough.  Moisten your hand with water and squeeze the dough.  Is it soft or is it stiff?  Ignore the fact that the dough is wet and sticky.  Does the dough resist your touch?  Does it strain the muscles in your fingers when you squeeze it?  Then it is too stiff.  On the other hand, the dough must have enough flour to hold its shape.  Does the dough feel waterlogged, as if the flour it not contributing much substance to it?  Does it have a runny, liquid quality to it?  Then it has too much water.  Feel deep into the dough, not just the surface.

If the dough is not right, thoroughly mix in more water or flour, a little at a time, and re-evaluate until it is right.  If you are using a coarse, stone ground flour, it will take up the water more slowly, so it is best to let it rest for 5 minutes before making the final adjustment in the water content, at least until you are familiar with the whole process and feel comfortable about making adjustments while the dough is being kneaded.

The first few times you mix the dough in your machine, you may want to to the mixing all on the slow speed, so that you can observe the changes in the dough more carefully.  Normally though, this would be the time to turn the machine up to medium speed.  Indeed I recommend for the Bosch Universal Plus to run the kneading on speed 2.  At first as the gluten begins to form, the dough's surface will appear rough and bumpy, and if you feel the dough--stop the machine first---it feels quite sticky.  The next big change comes when the dough reaches cleanup--all the dough comes off the sides of the bowl and forms a ball.  The dough feels a little drier.  Soon after this the dough becomes fully developed, so watch it closely:  the dull, rough surface develops a smooth, satiny sheen, and it stretches rather than tears over the hook.  The dough feels drier, and if you stretch it gently, it will form a thin uniform translucent membrane without thick strands of lumps in it.  If you hold it up to the light, it is faintly webbed inside.  Look for the brown flecks of bran against the bright white gluten sheet.

If the kneading is continued on too far, the dough loses its elasticity, softens, and pulls into long rubbery strands.  Finally the dough gets wet, runny and quite sticky again.  Loaves made from such dough will tear int he shaping of the proofing and will not rise high.

The amount of time it takes a dough to develop fully depends most on the amount of gluten in the flour and the speed and quality of the mixing or kneading the machine accomplishes.  With a good strong flour the dough may be mixed and developed in as little as 8 to 10 minutes on medium speed or somewhat longer on a slow speed.  This will vary with the quality of the flour, so watch the changes in the dough and don't depend on just how much time the machine has been running.  Certainly with the Bosch Universal Plus it only takes 10 minutes to develop the gluten even a poorer grade of flour because of the great kneading ability it has. Try out the recipe below but if doing it in other kitchen machines try cutting it in half or quarters as it makes 4 two pound loaves.

Whole Wheat Bread Recipe