kneading bread

[chewie]

was at teh neighbors the other day, she was making bread. i make tons of bread myself, and use flour on the kneading board. my neighbor used oil instead. i mean, like a half cup or more. then more oil in the breadpans, too. i would think all this oil would make the bread sticky? i didnt' get the chance to talk to her about it tho.

would like to know what others think of this, if you do this, or waht? i just tried it this afternoon, and the loaves shoulda been raised enough to bake by supper, and they are sitting like lumps.

[meanwhile]

Oh gross! A half cup of oil? That just sounds awful to me. I use oil in the glass pans when I bake and a bit in the large bowl that the dough rises in but in the dough mix itself I only put about 1 Tablespoon per 3 cups of flour for my basic breads.

We use flour on the kneading board to knead. Wonder what she was thinking? Maybe she had some new or odd type of recipe? Ask her next time and see maybe she just did not know how to knead with the flour?

[chickenmommy]

Never heard of such. Seems it would incorporate into the dough and make it more of a batter than a dough.

[laughaha]

Interesting- maybe it was too stiff and she was trying to fix it when you got there? If that isn't the case, then I'd be very interested in learning how she was doing it- I do flour when kneading dough.

[Callieslamb]

As you knead the bread, the gluten starts to develop and the dough gets less sticky. The gulten is what holds the dough together. So neither flour or oil is really needed - except to keep your hands and counter clean. If you take a bit of unkneaded dough and pull it apart, you will see little strands in it. After you knead it, you will notice there are more strands and they are bigger.

Adding flour on the counter runs the risk of adding too much and making the dough more stiff. Oil can do the opposite and make it too sticky. Obviously, both of you have your method and are making it work just fine. I'd wonder about the calorie count of that bread with all the oil is all. I bet it tastes great though.

[Parttimefarmer]

I use oil, just a little, on my hands and counter. No issues. It's easier for thing like pretzels and braided breads you want to look pretty.

[olivehill]

Callieslamb gave a great explanation.

Personally, I prefer butter. It doesn't incorporate into the dough like both oil and flour do, so it doesn't compromise the consistency of the dough, but gives just enough slip to keep a good, wet dough from sticking.

[kjmatson]

I have heard of it and think I saw it on youtube, but I wont use it, just flour.

[laughaha]

Oh, just thought of something. My bread recipe is for 10-11 loaves and I incorporate the last 2-3 cups of flour while kneading. That's why I use flour to knead- there's no way I could stir it in.

[hotzcatz]

Tossing it all into the Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook saves adding either oil or extra flour for kneading. When I did knead by hand, though, it was flour which was used. How did she keep the oil from wandering over the edge of the table?

[Nyx]

I usually knead with flour to work the last 2 cups into the bread batter...and then roll the loaves in oil before I drop them in the loaf pans. The oil coating seems to give a nice soft, 'leathery' crust. (Yes, I know...leathery isn't really a descriptive term you want used with food, but it's the best description I can think of!)

[Betho]

I don't use anything I actually try to make my bread dough the right texture so that it is tacky but not sticky enough to stick to my hands or the cutting board. I also knead it in my mixer, though. When I do have a dough that is supposed to be stickier, I use flour but I try to handle it as little as possible.