Kitchenaid dough tips

[billmac]

My apologies if this has been asked before. I'm just getting into "dough stuff" and want to use my Kitchenaid. I made pretzels last week with pretty good success, and I hope to make pizza dough tonight, but have a few questions.

What I want to know, generally speaking is:

What speed do you mix / knead your dough with the mixer?
Typically how long do you knead it?
Do you pause the mixer to scrape the ball off the dough hook periodically?

[Andy M.]

Once the ingredients are combined at the lowest speed, I go to 4 for kneading the dough.

I knead it for 5 minutes

If you coat the upper portion of the dough hook with oil, the dough won't climb up it so much. When it does, I scrape it down and restart.

[Michael in FtW]

I go by the book that came with my KA mixer:

1) Mix and Knead at speed 2 - it has more torque for heavy mixing at that speed.
2) Knead about 5-10 minutes - depends on what I'm making but closer to 10 minutes generally for bread/pizza doughs.
3) If the dough climbs up the hook - yes, I stop the mixer, pull it down, and resume. Greasing the hook will help, as Andy mentioned - but wet doughs have a tendency to "climb".

[jpmcgrew]

If you hear a loud grinding noise from your KA stop it right away as the dough is too heavy for the machine and you could burn out the motor, if this happens finish dough by hand

[subfuscpersona]

Do know the quantity of bread dough your KA can handle (varies with model) and do *not* exceed it.

IMHO, mixing on speed *2* (aka "low) with the dough hook is safer than than mixing on speed *4* (aka "medium").

A good recipe that supplies directions for a KA mixer should give mixing times. Follow them.

In general, for standard loaf breads/rolls and/or baguettes or other "freeform" breads, 4 to 5 minutes on speed "2" is sufficient, assuming the dough load is 3-4 pounds of dough.

Doughs with a large amount of fat (especially a dough like a brioche, with has a lot of butter) will typically take longer (maybe about 6 minutes).

Feel the top of the mixer to monitor heat and do not let it get too hot. If the motor is getting hot, it is *always* safe to stop it, let it cool, and then resume kneading. Modern KA mixers may automatically shut off if the motor is getting too hot.

There was, about 1-1/2 years ago, a very informed explanation in this forum of why it is unnecessary to "pause the mixer to scrape the ball off the dough hook periodically". If I can find it, I'll post the link.

The last point re. effectiveness of kneading in a KA mixer is the shape of the dough hook. Most "home" KA mixers have some variant of what is called the "C hook" bread hook. A few models have a newer spiral hook, which looks different and is supposed to be more efficient.

[subfuscpersona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by billmac I'm just getting into "dough stuff" and want to use my Kitchenaid...What I want to know, generally speaking is: ...Do you pause the mixer to scrape the ball off the dough hook periodically?

Quote:

Originally Posted by subfuscpersona There was, about 1-1/2 years ago, a very informed explanation in this forum of why it is unnecessary to pause the mixer to scrape the ball off the dough hook periodically. If I can find it, I'll post the link.

I've found that link for you. Here's the full text...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael in Ftw on Nov 2, 2004 There are two different kinds of mixers that have dough hooks: One group (bowl locks into a fixed position, has only one "C" shaped dough hook, and has a planitary-motion head such as Hobart, KitchenAid, and 3-4 others) does indeed mix and knead the dough. The other group is basically a hand mixer on a stand (the bowl is not locked into position and can/does turn during mixing, and generally has two straight dough hooks that look something like cork-screws) only mixes the dough - they do not knead it. There are two different methods of making dough. One is the "sponge" method (a 2-step process) where the liquids and only a small portion of the flour are mixed and allowed to ferment to make a sponge (you could use the flat beater for this portion of the mixing) - then when you add the remainder of the flour to complete the mixing and kneading you would use the fough hook. The other method (1-step) is the "straight" dough method where everything is combined, mixed, and kneaded in one step with the dough hook. If you look in the front part of your KitchenAid manual it explains what to use each of the attachments for: Flat beater is for normal to heavy mixtures that are not kneaded, Whip for incorporating air into light mixtures, Dough Hook for mixing and kneading yeast doughs (and other heavy kneaded doughs such as pasta dough). How the dough hook works (kneads) is kind of neat when you stop to think about it. This is how a pastry chef friend of mine explained it to me. As the dough hook turns (after the dough is mixed and forms a ball on the hook) and begins to move toward the bowl - it presses the dough against the side of the bowl in an arc motion, the dough is held in place by friction and pressure (just the same as the dough would held in place between your hands and the board if you were kneading by hand), as it moves on it stretches and presses the dough against the side of the bowl which slightly deforms it, so as the hook continues to rotate the bulge on the "fat" side of the dough is pressed against the side of the bowl actually causes the dough to rotate slightly on the hook - and the process repeats itself over and over.

Michael's explanation was reply #14 in this DC thread titled Question About Dough Hook