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Mike Avery[_1_] Mike Avery[_1_] is offline
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Default Mixer Recommendation

On 1 Apr 2006 11:28:01 -0800, BestBread > wrote:
>
> Can anyone recommend a heavy-duty mixer? This morning when I was
> mixing a new SD recipe, I must have overtaxed my KA - I had to divide
> the dough in half when the motor started to smell. Years ago, I only
> kneaded by hand, but now I have bilateral epicondilytis (aka tennis
> elbow albeit I never played tennis). The stores around here only carry
> Kitchen Aid Mixers.



There are lots of on-line vendors who carry a variety of mixers. Check out
bizrate.com or google.

However, a few thoughts. KitchenAid mixers will do a decent job on bread
doughs IF you read the manual and stay within their guidelines. Each mixer
has a maximum amount of flour it is rated for. However, that is white
flour. If you are using whole wheat or rye, you need to cut that in half.
Next, the KA's have a limited duty cycle. They suggest you not knead too
long (check your manual for the limits here), and most also suggest no more
than 2 batches back to back, followed by a 45 minute or so cool-down period
(again, check your manual). I don't know why the call some of their
machines "professional" or "commercial" when they clearly aren't, but they
are adequate for most home mixing purposes.

Also, despite your elbow issues, I think that making bread by hand isn't out
of the question. I have two suggestions. One is, don't use your arms to
knead. In a martial arts class, my son was taught the arm is weak, but the
body is strong. So, don't hit with your arm, hit with your body, letting
your arm transmit the force. Similarly, you can knead by moving your body,
but not flexing - or putting strain on - your elbows. This will probably
work for you, but may not.

The second suggestion is, don't knead. It really isn't necessary. Instead
of kneading, use a stretch and fold technique. Mix your dough just enough
that the flour is hydrated (wet) and there are no puddles of unincorporated
water. It's OK if the dough is ugly and under-mixed. Really. It's OK if
your starter isn't mixed into the dough completely - even if it is still a
mass of gross strands through your dough. Once the flour is all wet,
transfer the dough to a bowl (if you didn't mix it in a bowl), cover it, and
let it sit for about 45 minutes.

Then remove the dough from the bowl and gently stretch it until it is about
3x as large as it started out in each direction. Try stretching it from the
underside, gently, teasing it, not forcing it. Fold the dough in from each
side like a letter, and place the fold side down in the bowl, cover and let
rest another 45 minutes.

Repeat the stretch and fold two more times. Each time you stretch and fold,
the dough is more developed. After the 3 stretch and folds, you'll be a
amazed to see it's as well developed as if you'd kneaded it - perhaps
better. Let the dough rise until doubled, and then handle it as you
normally would.

With practice, you may decide to do more, or less, stretch and folds. Pay
attention to your dough, it will tell you when it's ready. (That's a
metaphor, not an attempt to give human characteristics to something that is
not human....)

Again, if you use poolishes, starters, autolyse, bigas or other preferments,
don't worry about mixing them in completely at the first step. Even if they
are gloppy gross strands through your dough after the first rough mix,
they'll mix in nicely as you stretch and fold.

If you have a dough with seeds, nuts, grains, raisins or other stuff you'd
normally add at the end of kneading, add them at the start. Because you are
using a gentle non-kneading dough development, these ingredients won't
interfere with your dough development.

You may be surprised to find that your bread is better without kneading than
with it.

I've used this technique to make over 160 loaves of bread in a day pretty
much by myself. No mixer. My wife helps me for about an hour and a half at
the start by measuring ingredients while I do the first rough mixes.

How does this work? Many things can develop the gluten. In this case, the
simple act of wetting the flour does a lot of the work. More work is done
by the yeast's gas stretching the dough. More is done by the gentle
stretching and folding. Together these actions work very effectively to
gently develop the dough.

Good luck,
Mike