Mixing Dough With A KitchenAid Mixer


 
I am not a baker by any stretch. My wife would be the authority there though I know I have seen her try with limited success to use AP flour when Bread flour was called for die to the lack of gluten and the dough not being able to "develop" properly. We don't use white flour or even eat bread in the house due to my being a Type II diabetic and the VERY adverse effect on my blood glucose from even the tiniest amount of bread. But given what I know of the KA mixer you should not have had trouble with that recipe
 
Rusty James said:
Does anyone know how small a dough batch one can make with a KitchenAid 5-quart mixer?

Tried this recipe out for the first time, and I had to add an extra 1/2 cup of flour to get the dough to stick to the dough hook.

For what it's worth, I substituted all purpose flour for bread flour.
Click to expand...

I have that same mixer. Generally when I do pizza I use 500g of flour which would about be a double of that recipe.

I only use my mixer to kneed. Mix everything by hand in your mixer bowl. Then when its all combined in to one mass use the dough hook to kneed it.

If you don't have a Dough Whisk then get one. It is really nice because its stiff enough to mix bread, but there isn't enough surface area for the dough to stick to. It works great for mixing dough by and until its time to kneed.
danish-dough-whisk-large-sq.jpg
 
Difficult to say but as you live in the US, this may not be relevant as it is a US recipe.

Different countries use different measures. For example, one US cup of flour is different from one CDN cup of flour.

Having said that, I would say:

1) ALWAYS use recipes that use grams to measure ingredients. It is SOOOOOO much easier. Grams are grams everywhere (ALL ingredients are weighed).

the corollary to this

2) ALWAYS weigh your ingredients. Don't use cups, etc as as tool.

One thing to consider is HUMIDITY. If it's humid when your baking, you'll need more flour (OR use less water). The opposite is true as well.

So winter is very dry, you have to adjust down/up. Summer, up/down as required.

You have to CONTROL how much water you use. Depending on how you measured it, you may have used too much ("ah, that looks about right") . Too much water means you'll need more flour to compensate.

Get the idea? This is all science. Some may say bread making is an art. It is but is primarily based in science.

One important suggestion I would make: because you are now weighing your ingredients, write down what you use. AND write down what you add.

When evaluating the end product, note how it turned out AND what you think went right/wrong and how might you adjust your recipe the next time.

Be sure to review that review the next time you bake. Take into account weather conditions as well compared to when you made it last.

Lots to consider. Just like with our smokes: keep a diary and base your next bake/smoke on prior successes/failures.

PS You mention AP instead of bread flour ( I only use AP. Never had bread flour in the house. Ever) . That might play a role but now you need to consider the "strength" of your AP flour. That is, how much protein is present. That is determined by the TYPE of wheat used. CDN wheat generally is higher in protein than US wheat. Dangerous to generalize but there it is ;)

Too much to go into but go here for a start=> https://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/FlourTypes.htm
 
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LMichaels said:
I am not a baker by any stretch. My wife would be the authority there though I know I have seen her try with limited success to use AP flour when Bread flour was called for die to the lack of gluten and the dough not being able to "develop" properly. We don't use white flour or even eat bread in the house due to my being a Type II diabetic and the VERY adverse effect on my blood glucose from even the tiniest amount of bread. But given what I know of the KA mixer you should not have had trouble with that recipe
Click to expand...


I, too, fight with my blood sugar, but I dropped 50lbs over the past 10 years, so diabetes doesn't bother me as bad as some. Nevertheless, I am still considered overweight at 220, so I have to be careful about carbohydrate portion size.

Ordinarily, I shy away from pizza, but we wanted to see how the stand mixer performed compared to a bread machine, or by hand alone.

I'll try the recipe again, but I'll use bread flour (King Arthur) next time, and maybe less water too.
 
Len Dennis said:
Difficult to say but as you live in the US, this may not be relevant as it is a US recipe.

Different countries use different measures. For example, one US cup of flour is different from one CDN cup of flour.

Having said that, I would say:

1) ALWAYS use recipes that use grams to measure ingredients. It is SOOOOOO much easier. Grams are grams everywhere (ALL ingredients are weighed).

the corollary to this

2) ALWAYS weigh your ingredients. Don't use cups, etc as as tool.

One thing to consider is HUMIDITY. If it's humid when your baking, you'll need more flour (OR use less water). The opposite is true as well.

So winter is very dry, you have to adjust down/up. Summer, up/down as required.

You have to CONTROL how much water you use. Depending on how you measured it, you may have used too much ("ah, that looks about right") . Too much water means you'll need more flour to compensate.

Get the idea? This is all science. Some may say bread making is an art. It is but is primarily based in science.

One important suggestion I would make: because you are now weighing your ingredients, write down what you use. AND write down what you add.

When evaluating the end product, note how it turned out AND what you think went right/wrong and how might you adjust your recipe the next time.

Be sure to review that review the next time you bake. Take into account weather conditions as well compared to when you made it last.

Lots to consider. Just like with our smokes: keep a diary and base your next bake/smoke on prior successes/failures.

PS You mention AP instead of bread flour ( I only use AP. Never had bread flour in the house. Ever) . That might play a role but now you need to consider the "strength" of your AP flour. That is, how much protein is present. That is determined by the TYPE of wheat used. CDN wheat generally is higher in protein than US wheat. Dangerous to generalize but there it is ;)

Too much to go into but go here for a start=> https://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/FlourTypes.htm
Click to expand...


That is valuable information, Len.

I read some info, online, earlier today about protein levels in flours, but I'm still trying to digest it all, lol.

You mentioned climate humidity; it has been very humid here in the mid-Atlantic region, so that could have had an effect on the recipe moisture-wise.

I made scale notes to use next time around. I prefer grams to cups and spoons, but wouldn't the moisture content of the flour play havoc with gram measurements?
 
JBooker said:
I have that same mixer. Generally when I do pizza I use 500g of flour which would about be a double of that recipe.

I only use my mixer to kneed. Mix everything by hand in your mixer bowl. Then when its all combined in to one mass use the dough hook to kneed it.

If you don't have a Dough Whisk then get one. It is really nice because its stiff enough to mix bread, but there isn't enough surface area for the dough to stick to. It works great for mixing dough by and until its time to kneed.
danish-dough-whisk-large-sq.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks, JBooker.

I had to stop the mixer several times yesterday to scrape the bowl sides since the product wasn't mixing as well as I had hoped for. Even after incorporating everything, the dough just set in the bottom until I began to add more flour, and I still did some hand mixing with the silicone scraper until the mixture latched onto the dough hook.

Which made me wonder if the recipe was too small for the 5-quart bowl size.
 
Rusty James said:
You mentioned climate humidity; it has been very humid here in the mid-Atlantic region, so that could have had an effect on the recipe moisture-wise.

I made scale notes to use next time around. I prefer grams to cups and spoons, but wouldn't the moisture content of the flour play havoc with gram measurements?
Click to expand...

Yes, it does absorb moisture but that's why I would adjust downwards the water/milk component for the humidity. How much? Well now, with experience you'll know ;)

Seriously though, it shouldn't matter. You can keep your flour in a sealed container (not practical as moisture will still get in). You could keep it in your freezer. PITA.

One thing I didn't go into was baker's percentage. Read up on that but: all ingredients are expressed as a percentage of how much flour you are using. Extremely easy to adjust. If your bread is too slack (before baking), there's too much water. Keep in mind: some doughs are SUPPOSED to be slack. Be careful in this regard.

So if the water percentage that you started with is say 75%, go to 70%. DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE. AND write it down for future evaluations. Another purpose is to scale down (or up). If a recipe makes one loaf and you want two AND your previous attempt was too slack, just weigh it out and adjust the water BASED ON THE PERCENTAGE. Easy to do (and remember) when you write down what you did.

bakers-percentagemeasurement-31-728.jpg


Depending on the type of bread you're making, the percentage of water will change. A bread like ciabatta may have a higher percentage of water than say papa secos. It's also an easier way to adjust water for the way you want your bread to turn out.
 
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Part 2: I just re-read your post about "maybe the bowl was too big". I think it's more along the lines of the amount of dough was too small. I know, semantics but still valid I think. You can change the amount of dough. You CAN'T change the size of the bowl.

I've got a Bosch Universal Plus that has 800 watts of mixing power. NOTHING stops this thing. BUT I can only do a minimum of 2 loaves (1kg of flour plus ....) Anything less, the dough goes around with the hooks like a merry-go-round with no kneading. If making one loaf, I can only mix in it. I have to knead by hand.

I wouldn't add the extra flour as you did (I have in the past because of what I said about not kneading. This was before I knew better) as I didn't care for the final product.

Remember my percentages :D

Try doubling your recipe the next time and it should be ok. Too much? As it's pizza dough put one ball in the freezer. If making bread, cut the finished loaves in half/quarters and freeze in freezer bags. Then take out what you need and leave the rest in the freezer.
 
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Nice looking recipe Rusty. Quick and easy answer to your original question. I would just triple the dough portion of the recipe and then divide the dough by weight into 3 equal dough balls. Your dough hook will work better and you'll be all set for next time you crave pizza. Vac seal and freeze the two you don't use.
 
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Cliff Bartlett said:
Nice looking recipe Rusty. Quick and easy answer to your original question. I would just triple the dough portion of the recipe and then divide the dough by weight into 3 equal dough balls. Your dough hook will work better and you'll be all set for next time you crave pizza. Vac seal and freeze the two you don't use.
Click to expand...

No vacuum sealer, Cliff. :(

Just press the air out of the Ziploc bags instead?

If I remember correctly, room temperature (or near room-temp) items like meat will shrink the bag around the product after it freezes. I would assume the same can be said with dough?

EDIT: The pizzas came out pretty good considering we used Neese's Liver Pudding for a topping (including some ham slices). :p

EDIT 2: Looks like others like liverpudding (or livermush) pizza too!

Might try this too...

Bob Garner’s Livermush Shepherd’s Pie
 
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Rusty, submerge your zip-loc(tm) bag with contents up to the top in water to evacuate a little more air. Poor man's chamber sealer.
 
Zip looks will work fine Rusty. Good tip from JKalchik above. Actually, when I vac seal my dough, I don't go the whole nine yards like on a steak or chicken. I use the pulse feature to gently remove all the air without crushing the dough. Either will be fine.
 
Freeze it before you bag it. Just don't freeze it long enough to freezer burn it.

Put a layer of flour on a paper plate. Place dough ball on paper plate and place in freezer.

Disclamer: When I freeze pizza dough balls this is how I do it. I still prefer the taste of a fresh 2 day old non frozen dough.
 
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JBooker said:
Freeze it before you bag it. Just don't freeze it long enough to freezer burn it.

Put a layer of flour on a paper plate. Place dough ball on paper plate and place in freezer.

Disclamer: When I freeze pizza dough balls this is how I do it. I still prefer the taste of a fresh 2 day old non frozen dough.
Click to expand...

Freeze the ball, and then put it on a paper plate, and finish freezing? How about a foam plate?
 
Honestly, I don't know why a paper/foam plate. I'd just wrap the ball in saran wrap (to keep it separate from it's neighbour) and pop it in the freezer bag, suck the air out and seal.
 
Rusty James said:
Freeze the ball, and then put it on a paper plate, and finish freezing? How about a foam plate?
Click to expand...

Paper plate with a layer of flour.

Put raw dough ball on floured paper plate

Put the whole thing in the freezer.

Remove from freezer when dough is frozen.

Bag and remove air right away.

Placed bagged dough back in freezer for storage.


You don't have to use a paper plate. I do it for the ease of clean up. You just throw the plate and excess flour in the trash. We also have thick ceramic plates. They take longer to cool down so the bottom side of the dough ball doesn't freeze as fast. The flour keeps the dough from sticking to the plate. Paper, Styrofoam, Ceramic, or Glass it doesn't matter just use a layer of flour so it doesn't stick.
 
Revisiting a thread here, but I just wanted to share this video I found...


I tried this recently with the Kitchen Aid mixer, and the resulting dough ball stuck to the dough hook as it should have. I did as the recipe said and ran the machine for eight minutes. I made two pizzas from the batch, and the crust came out thin and crispy with a nice roll around the perimeter.

Some of my best crust so far.
 
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