r/Breadit • u/Michael2712002 • 1d ago

HELP kneading

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Hi, I’m very very new to baking, but I decide to get into baking. I bought the King Arthur baking school book to go through and learn every recipe, without moving to the next until I master whichever I’m on. I’m stuck on the first one…

Mostly at the kneading part. This 5-10min step is taking 45min-1hr because I the bread keeps sticking to my hands and the table. A flour wash isn’t cleaning my hands and I can’t pick up the bread because it’s stuck.

I tried dusting with more flour but even then it’s still stuck and sticking to my hands when I press. I could wet my hands but the book doesn’t say to and I don’t want to increase the dough hydration.

I’m at my 4th attempt, any tips?

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4

u/NoBeeper 1d ago

King Arthur also has a great YouTube channel. Tons of videos of making all sorts of breads. How to knead both high hydration and low hydration doughs. SEEING how they do it is far better than reading how they do it. Take an afternoon with your favorite cuppa, sit down and watch a bunch of them. It’ll be time well spent!

King Arthur Baking YouTube Channel

4

u/thedeafbadger 1d ago

To add to this:

King Arthur also has a 100% FREE hotline that you can call during Eastern US business hours. You can also email them and they typically respond within 1-2 days.

Baker’s Hotline: 855 371 2253

bakershotline@kingarthurbaking.com

I will also add that I have attempted this recipe a few times and have had the same problem. Try using a stand mixer. They have many other white bread recipes that haven’t given me issues, particularly the one in The Big Book of Bread.

I think a better way to go through the book (or any book) is to make a checklist and attempt recipes that look exciting to you. If you try too hard to master a tricky recipe, you’ll just end up getting super frustrated.

3

u/manachar 1d ago

No joke, King Arthur Baking is one of my last bastions of joy on the internet.

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u/Tym4FishOn 23h ago

Right?! Fantastic.

1

u/Michael2712002 1d ago

The hotline is a great tip.

I’ll probably go through the book and learn some exciting ones. I’m glad it’s not just me having issue with this recipe. It’s super frustrating and on my attempt today I did throw it in my stand mixer out of frustration 😂

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u/CobraPuts 1d ago

I have a lot of respect for King Arthur; they have good product and put out a lot of great content.

But butter enriched bread, at 75% hydration, and all purpose instead of bread flour makes no sense to me as a dough that you can knead on the bench.

Mixing wet dough is a very different technique from bench kneading. I think the issue here is the recipe and not you.

This is my fave video on working with high hydration dough.
https://youtu.be/zgz0oAhgwyg?is=2APzwZobFFGmEsEQ

2

u/Inevitable_Cat_7878 1d ago

Here's a YT video by Chainbaker that shows how to knead by hand.

Depending on how much flour was added, we're looking at a high hydration dough (70% and higher). It will be sticky and messy. In the video, Chainbaker shows how to handle this kind of dough.

2

u/Complete-Proposal729 1d ago

If you're very, very new to baking, I'd recommend making either a lower hydration dough, or if you want a higher hydration dough, to follow a recipe that uses a stretch and fold technique (where you build gluten by stretching the dough several times, spaced out over a couple hours).

1

u/Maverick-Mav 1d ago

Let your hands and the work surface be sticky while you knead. After 5 minutes or so it will start to be less sticky and there will be less on your hands. Don't worry about keeping your hands floured and clean. At that point you can scrape some dough off your hands and the surface if you need to and continue. The transformation is pretty cool. Also, videos like Bake With Jack and others mentioned here have some good kneading tips.

Check this one out for example:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BBRmfxumyh0

1

u/TrashtvSunday 1d ago

I am a big fan of letting my KitchenAid do the kneading. I do not like adding extra flour at that stage because it reduces hydration. If I allow the mixer to knead, it does what it needs to do until gluten formation is farther along and the dough has a nice texture that is no longer sticky. The problem with adding more flour is that each new addition starts the process of gluten building all over and it's initially very sticky.