On 7/2/13 11:04 PM, Janet Bostwick wrote:
> On Tue, 02 Jul 2013 15:19:10 -0400, j Burns >
> wrote:
>
>> On 7/2/13 7:06 AM, Julie Bove wrote:
>>> "j Burns" > wrote in message
>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> My new Presto book recommends cooking grains in a bowl covered with foil
>>>> within the pressure cooker, to prevent foaming. The pressure cooker
>>>> serves as a steam oven. I haven't tried grain that way, but it sounds
>>>> like just the thing to keep polenta from sticking to the bottom. The rack
>>>> could be used to keep the bowl off the bottom.
>>>
>>> Well that sounds like a pain! I ordered a bunch of stuff for my Crockpot.
>>> The baking pan, the rack. Wound up being too fussy for me.
>>>
>>>
>> I think it's a pain to put on rubber gloves to knead dough, but it's
>> easier than the alternative. I've read online that cleanup is a cinch
>> when you use an inner bowl. The book says any bowl that will stand the
>> heat, will work.
>>
>> I have some plastic bowls with snap-on lids for microwaving. I've
>> browned the insides "roasting" pecans in a microwave, so I guess they'd
>> stand the heat of a pressure cooker. I could probably remove them from
>> the cooker without pot holders, and I wouldn't have to fool with foil.
>
> Rubber gloves aren't needed to knead dough. Mix the dough roughly
> with a large spoon so that everything is shaggy damp. Cover the bowl
> and walk away for 20 minutes. During this time, the flour continues
> to hydrate and the gluten begins to form all by itself. When you come
> back you will find that doing a few turns on the bread board with a
> dough blade will be all you need to get past the sticky point. From
> there on, just knead until the dough is tacky.
> Janet US
>
I didn't know that. I'd understood it took kneading to get the dough
sticky enough to rise high and to make bread that wouldn't crumble.

I inherited a $300 mixer that would knead. The conductors for the
switch buttons, printed on flexible plastic, went bad. I found that
hand kneading was simpler and made better dough, so I discarded the
machine instead of fixing it.

Here's how I've been doing it. I put the sugar, salt, oil, yeast, and
about 2/3 of the flour in a bowl, weigh the water, heat it to a little
over 125F, stir with a spoon, and put it in an oven at 100-125F. I
don't know if yeast is mobile in dough, but I figure the wet mixture
gives it a chance to spread and multiply.

When it rises, I dump in the rest of the four and mash it in with a
potato masher and spoon. Then I put on the gloves and knead. If I'm
careful, not much dough sticks to the gloves.

I have a flexible plastic cutting board that could serve as a bread
board. I can imagine that the greater surface area would help me get
the four into the dough.