Sourdough is one of the most popular bread recipes on the internet, and it’s easy to make at home. Kneading is an important step in the bread making process, but is it always necessary? In this post, we’ll discuss the importance of kneading, how to do it, and what happens if you skip kneading.
Kneading sourdough allows the dough to stretch and form gluten. Without kneading, the bread will have no structure and the dough will not rise and expand. Although there are other options, kneading is always excellent with sourdough bread. If you don’t knead, you will still need to find a way to mix the ingredients in sourdough thoroughly.
What Is Kneading?
Kneading is simply massaging the dough to make it stretch. Mixing combines all the ingredients, but kneading is what gives the bread structure. Kneading activates the almost magical process where the dough rises and expands. When you knead the sourdough, air combines with all the ingredients will blend and forms the ever-important gluten. It’s gluten that gives bread structure and chewiness.
Why Do You Knead Sourdough?
It might seem like kneading is just a form of mixing, but there’s more to it. Kneading helps combine flour, salt, water, and leavening, but there are other purposes for this unique process. Here are the other reasons for kneading sourdough:
- Homogenization: The kneading of the bread will help the ingredients to homogenize the dough, reducing the blurbs of fat inside the sourdough.
- Gluten development: The kneading process will encourage the development of gluten, crucial for the structure of the bread when baked.
Different Kneading Methods
You can either knead by hand, or you can use a mechanical device such as a mixer (with a dough hook attachment) or a bread maker/machine. Kneading dough by hand is hard work, and it requires some hand strength, but it’s worth it. Allow 20-30 minutes to knead the dough properly. If you use a machine to knead the dough, it will only take 10 minutes. A quality sourdough bread can’t survive without motion. Now that we’ve talked about why you knead sourdough bread – how do you knead sourdough bread?
How Do You Knead Sourdough?
Now that you know why kneading is an important step in the process, now it’s time to learn how to knead sourdough. Familiarity with the technique will make it easier to complete the recipe when it comes time to pull everything together.
Here’s how you can knead sourdough bread:
- Place the dough on a hard surface
- Press hard with the palm of your hand
- Fold and repeat until the dough is well-combined
This process will lead to a quality dough anyone can work with in a recipe.
It might not be perfect the first time you knead the dough. However, practice makes perfect. The more sourdough bread you make by hand, the better you will get at kneading sourdough right from your kitchen. It’s a labor-intensive activity, but it’s worth it.
What Happens If You Don’t Knead?
It might seem easier to ignore the kneading process. You can mix the ingredients, let it rise, and throw the raw dough in the oven. Are there any consequences to sourdough bread? What happens if you don’t knead?
A choice to avoid kneading leads to a bread that lacks strength. Weak bread:
- Will not be able to withstand toppings
- Won’t stand well on its own
- Will struggle to rise
You will have sourdough that isn’t as durable as it could be.
Instead of rising, a dough that hasn’t been kneaded will often do the opposite. It will spread out in a container and go flat, a state that isn’t ideal for bread. To make the best sourdough possible, ensure you knead the bread. It’s not a step you should get comfortable with skipping.
Is There No-Knead Sourdough Bread?
If you feel like kneading bread is all too much, you can try a no-knead option. It won’t turn out the same as a kneaded option, but it should be tasty nonetheless. No-knead sourdough bread doesn’t have the same ingredients as a traditional sourdough loaf.
The difference here is the sourdough starter. This material will need to come to life before you make the bread, ripe and fed before you put the ingredients together. All you need to do with sourdough bread is mix it. Still, you need to make or locate the starter ahead of time.
Is a Bread Machine Ideal for Sourdough?
A bread machine is an excellent tool for making bread. Whether you want wheat or white, the machine makes it possible to whip up a loaf in under an hour. Sourdough can work well with a bread machine that:
- Does not use a sourdough starter
- Uses minimal ingredients
You will have a loaf in no time.
The best part about a bread machine is that it takes away a lot of the effort necessary in the bread-making process. You can mix, sit, and wait until the bread is complete. Plus, the smell is incredible.
Sourdough Recipe
Are you interested in a sourdough recipe you can make for yourself? There are plenty of options online. Here is a delicious sourdough recipe that is sure to satisfy any craving:
- Gather your equipment – a lidded dutch oven, parchment paper, mixing bowl, measuring cup, towel, knife, and a kitchen scale.
- Get ingredients – sourdough starter, 520 grams of bread flour, 385 grams of water, and two teaspoons of salt.
- Feed the sourdough starter 8-12 hours before the baking process begins.
- Put the bread flour in a bowl, then add salt.
- Mix ⅓ of the start with water.
- Add the ingredients together, then let it rest.
- Stretch and fold twice, with fifteen-minute rests in between.
- Proof the mixture.
- Let it bake.
You’ll have tasty bread in no time.
There are plenty of options for sourdough recipes online. No matter what you prefer, you can find it on the internet.
Final Thoughts
Knead sourdough bread when making it from scratch. You can do this process by hand or machine, but you need to knead it together regardless. This process will permit homogenization and permit gluten development in the loaf. Without kneading, the dough will fall flat instead of rising as it should. This process is critical.
We hope this information was helpful! There’s a lot to consider when it comes to kneading bread. It’s a labor-intensive process, but it’s worth the additional effort for a loaf that comes out of the oven as perfectly as possible. It might be tricky to knead at first, but you will get better the more you work at it. Soon, you’ll have the best sourdough bread on the market.
