I've been having some trouble with my bread: Every time I got to the kneading part, the dough would end up tough, with holes busting out all over it, and yet seemingly under-kneaded rather than over-kneaded (because the bread wouldn't hold a rise properly).
It was a BIG mystery, and no matter what I tried, I kept getting the same weird, unhappy result.
I finally pulled out the big guns by asking my mom to make bread with me and show me what I'm doing wrong. Yaay, mommie!
It turns out that in the beginning, when you first mix together the yeast with some sugar and flour, there is some heavy stirring to be done, to activate the gluten right then.
There is also a very successful family kneading technique, but it can't really be explained in writing--you just have to watch someone do it. I can say that it involves leaning on the dough from the shoulder rather than trying to knead it with the wrists.
Needless to say, these two elements have greatly improved my breadmaking!
The next development is that now, with these two elements in, I find that I can add much less flour to the dough before going on to kneading, which handles a lot of the toughness that I was encountering.
Woo!
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