Kitchen tip,
How Long to Knead Dough: The Windowpane Test
Kneaded too short and your bread tears. Follow a 10-minute kneading timer and check with the windowpane test to know when your dough is done.
kitchen-hacksbreaddough
The problem
Knead too short and you get a sloppy dough that's not stretchy and chewy enough for a delicious bread, it tears instead of stretching. Kneading the right amount of time is what builds the gluten, and most people stop too early.
The fix
Set a timer for 10 minutes and knead along. Your dough might be finished after five already, the cues below tell you when to stop, whatever dough you're making: flatbread, bread dough, anything.
1. Start by kneading into a heart shape and put some elbow grease in it. Put on some music, because this takes a little while.
2. Around 3 minutes in, check how stretchy the dough is. If it tears straight away, keep going.
3. In the last few minutes, the dough should not stick to your hands or the bench anymore. If it does, it's a little too wet, add a little flour to the bench. It should also start to feel very smooth.
4. When the timer runs out, do the windowpane test: hold the dough above a light source (I always use my phone flashlight) and stretch it out all the way. If light shines through it like through a newspaper, without the dough tearing, you've done a marvelous job. If you see a hole, knead a bit more.
Why it works
Kneading develops the gluten that makes dough stretchy and chewy. A dough that passes the windowpane test has enough gluten development to hold its shape and rise properly, that's the whole point of the 10 minutes.
Kitchen cabinet
2 tools I used.
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