Kneading dough (Plotnikov-Kolesnikov)

Kneading the dough

Before proceeding to kneading the dough, it is necessary to determine the amount and temperature of water required to obtain the dough of the appropriate consistency and temperature.

The amount of water, as mentioned above, is determined by the water absorption capacity of the flour and is converted to the weight of the flour going to the dough. So, when baking bread from 200 kg of flour with a water absorption capacity of 52%, you will need water to get the dough:

52 * 200/100 = 104 l.

The correct proportion of flour and water in the dough (normal dough consistency) largely determines the quality of the bread. The process of baking bread with both thick and weak dough will go wrong. In the first case, sufficient starch gelatinization (binding of water by starch) will not occur, and the crumb of the bread will be dense, cracked and quickly stale. In the second case, the water remains unbound, and the crumb of the bread will be wet and sticky. Under normal conditions of dough-making, it is also necessary to take into account the ability of the flour to further swell during fermentation of the dough. So. flour varieties with strong gluten have the ability to swell during dough fermentation. On the contrary, weak varieties of flour, as practitioners say, are "released" during fermentation and, therefore, the dough has to be made more tough.

The temperature of the dough water depends on the temperature of the flour. The higher the flour temperature, the lower the temperature you need to take water. Temperature is one of the most important factors necessary for the life of the yeast and bacteria that cause the dough to ferment. Therefore, when kneading the dough, you should always strive to obtain in the dough the optimal (best) temperature for the yeast and beneficial bacteria (28-32 ° C).

The flour supplied to the production for making the dough and for kneading the dough should not have a low temperature, since it is necessary to take water with a high temperature, which causes a part of the flour to be brewed. In addition, yeast is killed at high temperatures. In cases where you still have to deal with cold flour, yeast should be added to the bowl (pot) after some mixing of flour and water.

Dough preparation technique. The required amount of water at the appropriate temperature is poured into a bowl or drawer. The yeast is pre-mixed in a small amount of water so that there are no lumps, and poured through a hair sieve into a bowl of water. If the dough is made with sourdough, it is necessary to mix the sourdough thoroughly and evenly with water and a small amount of flour before giving the flour to the bowl. In this way, an even distribution of the leavening agents in the water and, therefore, in the dough is achieved. This is especially important when fermenting dough.

Salt, previously sifted, must also be dissolved in water, filtered and then given to the bowl. For this purpose, enterprises have special salt solvents.

Next, gradually adding flour to water, knead the dough. It is imperative to add flour to water, and not vice versa, since it is easier to get a dough of normal consistency by adding flour to a weak dough than by adding water to a thick dough.

The dough must be kneaded quickly until the individual particles of flour and water are not noticeable. With prolonged kneading of the dough, especially with low flour, the quality of the gluten in the dough decreases (the dough is called "tortured"). The bread is vague and small.

The dough is kneaded by hand or on special kneading machines.

The kneading time of the dough will depend on a number of reasons. It will increase with strong flour, hand kneading and slow motion of the kneading arm of the kneader. It will decrease with weak flour, machine kneading with an accelerated movement of the kneading lever. With an average quality of flour, kneading the dough (about 400 kg) on a kneading machine lasts 7-8 minutes.

From the book of Plotnikov P. M., Kolesnikov M. F. - 350 varieties of bakery products - 1940