"Ken Ortmann" > wrote in message
...
> I'm hoping someone can answer a question making bread dough (and pizza
> dough and such). I'm using a Kitchen Aid stand mixer as I am disabled and
> cannot mix and knead by hand. The instructions generally say to start with
> 3/4 of the flour and all of the liquid and mix for a minute or so. Then
add
> flour "until the dough forms a ball and cleans the sides of the bowl. Then
> knead for two minutes more". I can get it to the stage that the dough
forms
> a ball on the dough hook and cleans the sides of the bowl all right
> but,oftentimes, before two minutes are up, the ball of dough will slump
and
> stick at the bottom center of the mixer bowl. Adding more flour will cause
> the ball to re-form on the hook but I may have to do this several times
> going well over the amount of flour called for in the recipe. I understand
> that the amount of flour will vary somewhat due to weather and the whims
of
> the kitchen gods but surely should not exceed upper limits of the recipe.
> Whadda ya think I'm doin' wrong? By the way, I measure the flour by weight
> in grams.
>
> --
>
>
> Ken
>
> Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
>

Couple of observations.

1. What you're seeing is a normal process. The dough picks up the water,
sort of on the surface, and looks like it's finished -- the dough clears the
side of the bowl and forms a nice dough. Then the flour gets wetted through
and the thing slumps a bit. Normal.

2. Be careful of what you or the recipe author use as equivalents. One of
the nasty little secrets of bread, and most other, cookbooks is that a lot
of the recipes aren't tested to perform as written. The other little secret
is that a cup ain't a cup. If you measure the flour, you should also
measure the water and do some calculation of baker's percentages.

If you are checking baker's percentages, use these as guidelines. 60% is
classic French bread. 65% is a tacky bread. 70% is pretty wet. 75% will
flow. 80% is a bear to work, and will require special handling. Obviously,
others have different guidelines and different doughs and local conditions
will lead to different conclusions, but if you start here, you at least have
an idea of what's going on.

So, how much flour and water does the recipe call for?

Barry