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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
>

Why do you believe that the dough has to form a complete ball and clean
the bowl? Is the bread you are getting unsatisfactory?

--
Del Cecchi
"This post is my own and doesn’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions,
strategies or opinions.”