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On 20 Jan 2006 20:17:47 -0800, wrote:

>What I continue to see is that the dough gets to the "Ball stage" and
>then no matter how much flour I add it reverts to what might be called
>the "Pre-ball-stage"; meaning that about 25% of the dough is clinging
>to the dough hook while the remainder is in a level mass clinging to
>the sides of the bowl. The part clinging to the hook rotates around
>while the remaining mass doesn't move very much.
>
>Tonight I made my standard recipe ("Honey Whole Wheat from Beth
>Hensperger's 'Bread Made Easy' ") and even though I added 40% more
>flour than the recipe called for the situation described above
>occurred. It reached the "Ball Stage" then reverted back to the
>"pre-ball-stage" within about 90 seconds even though I had given the
>first portion of flour about 20 minutes to hydrate. In other words, I
>added enough flour to the liquids to make a very thick paste then left
>it to hydrate for about 20 mins.
>
>I'm assuming that in order to properly knead the bread it's important
>for it to be in the form of a ball which is being crushed or squished
>by the hook as it rotates ...otherwise there's a danger of a tearing
>action developing if the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl while
>the hook is rotating with a small partial doughball clinging to it.
>
>I just can't believe that this isn't happening to anyone else. What do
>you do about it? I even tried to add flour to the sides of the bowl in
>an attempt to keep it at the ball stage but when it gets to 40% over
>the recipe I figured I didn't want to go any further.
>
>Patrick

Hi Patrick,

Often, a simple resting of the dough will eliminate the
stickiness problem:

I'd suggest mixing the ingredients just long enough that
there are no pockets of dry flour.

Then, do nothing with it for about twenty minutes.

Then, continue with whatever process you intended.

It is likely to solve the problem you describe, and adding
all that extra flour is not the route to success.

All the best,
--
Kenneth

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