The Basics of Mixing Batters and Doughs
To get the texture or “crumb” you want, whether you’re baking quick breads or a yeasted or unleavened bread, you need to pay attention to gluten — or its absence. Do you want to develop it fully? Retard it as much as possible? Or leave it out altogether?
Mixing Quick Bread Batters and Doughs
Overmixing batter or dough for quick breads, muffins, scones, biscuits, pancakes, and the like will make them tough; since these are meant to be tender, your goal is to minimize or avoid any gluten development (see “The Magic of Gluten,” page 573) when blending. To do this, combine the dry and wet ingredients in as few strokes as possible. When you see no more dry bits of flour, the job is done; don’t worry about any remaining lumps. This is the reason I hand-mix these types of baked goods; it’s much too easy to overmix if you are using a food processor or stand mixer.
Mixing and Kneading Dough for Yeast Breads
By contrast, developing the gluten in a yeasted wheat bread dough, in which you want that elastic, weblike structure that gives bread its chewiness, is what making bread is all about. If you mix your dough in a food processor (which is a good technique, and with one important exception, No-Knead Bread on page 601, all of the directions for the yeasted and unleavened bread recipes include instructions for using the food processor) or a stand mixer, that action will also largely take the place of kneading. You certainly can mix a bread dough by hand but these can be stiff doughs, requiring some elbow grease, and you will definitely have to knead the dough to finish developing the gluten to the proper point before letting it rise.
Here is a rundown on the three methods but remember, only use these methods when you are looking for a firm crumb and a chewy crust; these are too rough for tender baked goods:
Food Processor
Put the dry ingredients in the work bowl and pulse once or twice to combine. Add any butter, eggs, honey, molasses, or other semiliquid ingredients to the bowl and pulse a few more times. With the machine running, pour in the liquid through the feed tube, and let the machine run until the dough comes together in a doughy mass. If it looks too dry (this will take practice, because some doughs should be quite wet), add more liquid a tablespoon at a time and continue processing; if it looks too wet or loose, add flour a tablespoon at a time. Once the dough has come together, let the machine run for another 30 seconds or so. This takes the place of some (or all) of the kneading. Just take care not to overprocess; the sharp blades that develop the gluten can also break it apart, and friction can overheat the processor and the dough.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and briefly knead by hand (see illustrations, page below) until the dough is ready; depending on the recipe, this part may take a few extra minutes or could be entirely unnecessary. If there are bulky ingredients like raisins, nuts, or seeds that you want to mix into the dough, knead them in by hand; they’d get pulverized by the food processor blade. Just scatter the add-ins on the work surface and turn the dough out on top of them. Knead until they are incorporated throughout the inside of the dough.
Stand Mixer
Put all the ingredients — including add-ins like raisins and nuts — in the mixer bowl. If your machine is not very powerful, you may want to add the flour a little bit at a time so it doesn’t stall. For wet doughs, start with the paddle attachment just until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Then, using a dough hook, start mixing on low speed and gradually increase the speed to medium, scraping the side of the bowl as needed, until the dough is smooth and elastic. This takes around 8 to 10 minutes. Afterward, you can just leave the dough in the bowl to rise, or seal the deal with a few kneads by hand (not always necessary, but good for getting a feel for finished dough) and return it to the bowl.
Some things to be aware of while you’re mixing: Sometimes the dough rides up onto the base of the hook and sort of flops around without really being kneaded. If this happens, stop the machine, pull the dough off the hook, and put it back at the bottom of the bowl. Plunge the hook back into the dough and continue mixing. Also, stand mixers sometimes move on the counter a bit as the dough thumps against the side of the bowl, so keep an eye out to stop it from walking over the edge.
by Hand
Put half the flour with the salt and yeast (and sugar if it’s included) in a large bowl and stir to blend. Add all the water, any butter, oil, eggs, or other liquids, and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the remaining flour a bit at a time. When the mixture becomes too stiff to stir with a spoon, begin kneading right in the bowl, adding as little flour as possible — just enough to keep the dough from being a sticky mess that clings to your hands and won’t stay in the bowl. When the dough comes together into a ball, transfer it to a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes, before proceeding with the recipe.
