Working with your hands is fun. Working with dough is fun. It's like play-doh, but you get to eat it later. For most yeast recipes you will have to knead the dough either by hand or with the use of a machine. So what's the deal with kneading? Well it's basically just the time when a baker mushes the dough for his or her own pleasure. Just kidding. It is actually a very important step. Why? Thanks for asking. Kneading the dough is what helps our friend gluten (remember him from a while ago?).
When dough undergoes the process of kneading it activates the gluten. Kneading the dough is a process in which the gluten is repeatedly stretched and elongated (McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York: Scribner, 2004).
Another purpose of kneading the dough is to aerate (or make air bubbles) in the bread. The process of stretching and folding captures air bubbles in the dough and creates "pockets". The more pockets that a dough has, the finer the texture will be.
Fun fact: the word knead comes from an Indo-European root meaning "to compress into a ball".
Here is a video that will demonstrate how to knead bread dough, enjoy!
* Source: McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York: Scribner, 2004.
When dough undergoes the process of kneading it activates the gluten. Kneading the dough is a process in which the gluten is repeatedly stretched and elongated (McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York: Scribner, 2004).
Another purpose of kneading the dough is to aerate (or make air bubbles) in the bread. The process of stretching and folding captures air bubbles in the dough and creates "pockets". The more pockets that a dough has, the finer the texture will be.
Fun fact: the word knead comes from an Indo-European root meaning "to compress into a ball".
Here is a video that will demonstrate how to knead bread dough, enjoy!
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