My bread recipe said 'knead until smooth' and I took that way too literally for 45 minutes

I spent 45 minutes kneading a batch of basic white dough last Tuesday because I thought 'smooth' meant absolutely no bumps at all. Kept adding flour thinking it was too sticky, then it got tough and I had to start over. Turned out I just needed to let it rest for 10 minutes and the gluten would relax on its own. Has anyone else spent way too long on a step that was actually simple?

1 comments

1 Comment

riley_bell29d ago

... and honestly I think the real issue is that recipe writers don't think about how people actually read instructions at home. 'Until smooth' means something totally different to a beginner than it does to someone who has made bread fifty times. I've been baking for years and I still catch myself overworking dough sometimes because the recipe says something vague like 'until it feels right.' There's no standard for what smooth means across different doughs either, a wet dough will never look as smooth as a stiff one. We really need recipe writers to start giving visual cues or time ranges instead of just flowery descriptions.