I’m used to mixing bread dough with a mixer. But recently I started baking with my brick oven again and I don’t have a mixer available. Now I’m hand mixing bread dough in large plastic tubs and boy, am I ever learning a lot.

I’ve used home stand mixers for single loaves and big spiral mixers to mix 60 loaves at a time. But no matter what machine I used, I didn’t really think too much about the mixing process. Mix on first speed until all the loose flour is off the bottom of the bowl and then mix on second speed until the gluten is properly developed.

But something changes in the baker’s awareness when you’re forced to really feel the dough. Your hands grow more nerve endings or something. All I know is I start to feel things at a different level. As Lionel Vatinet says in his book:

“Remember, your hands are your memory – pay attention to the feel of the dough as it comes together” – Lionel Vatinet

After mixing a few dozen batches by hand in a dough tub, there’s four things I keep in mind on every mix.

1. First, focus on incorporating ingredients
2. Proper hydration takes time
3. Knead AND Stretch And Fold
4. There are two types of gluten development

First, focus on incorporating ingredients

Most bread recipes talk about mixing on low speed until the ingredients are incorporated. But what does that mean, really?

You’re looking for consistency. Not a smooth, supple dough – not yet anyway – but consistency. No lumps. No salt crystals. No super dry bits. No super wet areas.

When hand mixing, you get consistency by squeezing. Lionel Vatinet describes squeezing as making tight “OK” signs with your thumb and index fingers and squeezing and pinching your way through the dough.

I haven’t got the “OK” shape down pat yet, but I squeeze the dough all the same. Here’s how I mix:

• Put the pre-scaled, warm water in the bottom of your bowl or tub.
• In a separate container, disperse the salt and yeast throughout your flour.
• Pour the flour on top of the water. I find this keeps the bottom of the mixing bowl slightly cleaner.
• With one hand, gently combine the flour and water until you have a rough, shaggy, sticky, uneven mess.
• Now get both hands in there and squeeze! Take little sections of dough and squeeze it in your hands.
• Keep grabbing bits of dry dough and squeeze it into the wet areas. Mix and squeeze, mix and squeeze.
• After a couple of minutes, the dough will still be wet and sticky, but it should be consistent. That is, there shouldn’t be any dry lumps. You shouldn’t be able to feel sharp salt grains when you squeeze the dough. It should all feel equally smooth (but still sticky and wet.)

At this point, clean your hands off as best you can, cover the dough and let it rest for a 20 minute autolyse. Which brings us to the next thing I learned.

Proper Hydration Takes a While

It takes a while for the starch in the flour to become fully absorbed with water. Much longer than I have patience for.

But if you try to develop the gluten before the flour is fully hydrated, you’re just making work for yourself. I imagine the starch is screaming “Just Wait A Minute!” as my dough tears and slimes up when I try to knead too soon.

That’s what the autolyse* step is for. After you’ve got the ingredients all incorporated, give your dough a rest for 20-30 minutes. Give the starch that time to fully absorb water and let the gluten (which is already starting to form) relax a bit.

When you come back to the bowl, the dough will already be much less sticky and will be easier to knead than when you left it.

*Note to purists: Yes, an ‘autolyse’ is formally defined as just flour and water, without salt or yeast being added. And, yes, the salt is hindering water absorption a bit. And, yes, fermentation is beginning because the yeast is present.

But I find adding the salt and yeast in the beginning makes it much easier to get these ingredients evenly incorporated when hand mixing. Once all the water is absorbed in the flour, I end up with icky salt and yeast pockets no matter how much I hand mix.

Knead AND Stretch and Fold

Maybe this is only a tip for mixing larger batches. But I’ve found that stretching and folding alone isn’t sufficient to properly develop the gluten when I hand mix bread dough.

I tend to hand mix batches that are between 10kg and 14kg (22lbs to 29lbs) which means that the ‘stretch and fold’ technique I share in The Learning Loaf  is tough to pull off. Well, I can’t anyway. Not only is the dough tough to lift in one motion, my table tends to move all over the place. So I’ve modified my technique somewhat.

I start by giving the dough a bunch of folds right in the tub. Just pick up a corner of dough, stretch as best you can, fold it over itself, then punch it down. Grab another corner and repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

After a few of these, the dough will begin to tighten up. It won’t want to stretch so much any more. At this point, I’ll turn the dough out onto my bench and give it the same stretch and fold / knead treatment until the dough is really tight.

With the dough out of the bowl, give your bowl a good scrape down to get any dry bits out of there. Then spray the bowl with pan spray. Roll your dough ball over, round it as best as you can, an place it back in the bowl. Cover and let rest for 20-30 minutes.

After the rest, repeat the whole process again. Stretch and fold and punch, until the dough is tight again.

Compared to a mechanical mixer, I’m being gentler than normal in the first stage (the dough batch is too large to give a good slap down like a single loaf) but firmer than normal with each stretch and fold that follows. In the end, the gluten is properly developed.

But what do I mean by ‘proper development’? Read on!

Two Types of Gluten Development

We do all this mixing and kneading to develop the gluten in the bread dough. That’s the long protein chains that trap gas from the yeast and allows the loaf of bread to rise.

Without gluten, we get a flat, heavy pancake. And without properly developed gluten, we get other, less extreme problems.

Properly developed gluten is both elastic and extensible. Elastic dough springs back when you tug on it, just like an elastic band. If your dough isn’t elastic, it won’t sit up big and tall.

Extensible dough means the dough will stretch out in the first place. Without extensible dough, it would be impossible to roll out a baguette to full length.

The balance between elasticity and extensibility is a key to a great loaf of bread. You want to be able to have a nice tall loaf that will hold its shape. But you also want it to be able to stretch a little without tearing.

When hand mixing large batches of bread dough, I find it’s easy to create elasticity in the dough, but more difficult to create extensibility. So even though good fermentation happens and the final loaf has a good shape, the crumb isn’t always as light and airy as it could be. And the final loaf height isn’t as tall as it could be either. In essence, the tiny gluten balloons that trap gas break before they are fully inflated.

When you think about the hand mixing process, especially with large batches, this makes sense. It’s easy to get in the habit of doing more folding and punching than stretching. When confronted with a large tub of sticky dough, my first urge is to make it less sticky. So I fold and punch, fold and punch. But at the same time the dough becomes less sticky, it becomes stronger and stronger, and more difficult to stretch out. So I think “ah, that’s a good mix” and let it rest. But I haven’t really given the gluten the stretches it needs.

So my final lesson is really the the most important one for me to remember me. I need to take my time when mixing and really give the dough a good stretch at the same time I’m folding and punching. Develop the gluten on the stretch out, as well as the fold in, if that makes sense.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress. Please share your lessons in the comments!

Your Learning Loaf dough has been sitting for 1 hour 30 minutes, rising, strengthening the gluten and developing flavour. Now we need to take a few minutes to shape the dough into nice loaves of bread. The good news is, this step is so quick your cup of tea won’t even get cold!

Check Your Dough: Is It Ready?

First off, make sure the dough has finished the bulk fermentation properly. Depending on the temperature of the dough and the temperature of your kitchen, it may need to sit a little longer.

Gently poke the dough with your finger. If the dough depresses easily and leaves an indent, it’s time to divide.

If not, let the dough sit for 10 more minutes and try again.

Divide Into Loaf Sized Pieces

Gently pour the dough onto your counter. Using your dough scraper, cut the dough into two equal pieces.

The recipe we’re using for the Learning Loaf is for two loaves. So it’s not crucial to use a scale. But if you’re making a bigger batch, or have trouble getting the pieces the same weight, use your scale and get each piece to weigh around 750g. If you need to adjust, stack any small pieces of dough on top of the bigger pieces.

To avoid sticking, push the scraper through the dough quickly using one hand and pull the pieces apart with your other hand.

Pre-shape Each Loaf Into A Ball

Now you have two pieces of dough, but if you’re like me, they are pretty ugly. A few small pieces and one big hunk, as I get the loaf’s weight just right.

Take the corners of the big piece and pull them over any little bits. Turn the loaf over and roll it into a loose ball.

Repeat with the other loaf, then cover both loaves with a towel and let rest 20 minutes.

What we’ve just completed is the Pre-Shape. We’ve taken a ragged piece (or pieces) of dough and got it thinking it’s going to be a loaf of bread someday. But now it needs to relax before we give the loaf it’s final shape.

Why do we Pre-Shape?

The pre-shape is a step that many bakers omit, but I do it every time.

The effort required in dumping your bowl of dough and dividing it is hard on the dough. It’s been hacked into pieces and the gluten is all out of alignment. The dough has also started to tighten up in places where you’ve handled it more roughly.

In a word, it’s uneven. There are soft sections and firm sections, and we don’t want that to show up in our final loaf.

Pre-shaping will get the loaf’s strength consistent again. The rest that follows the Preshape will let the dough relax evenly, so it will be much easier to shape a pretty loaf.

Shape Your Loaves Into Rectangles

While the pre-shaped loaves are resting, get your loaf pans out and spray the insides with pan spray. Be sure to get the sides of the pan sprayed well so the loaves won’t stick to the pan.

Shaping Goals:

I’m going to take you through shaping step by step, but here’s what we’re trying to accomplish while we shape:

• Remove large air pockets. Pan breads have a tight, even crumb, without big holes. So we’ll want to make sure we press out any large air pockets.
• Firm, even tension throughout the loaf. Every time we fold or seal a seam, we want to build consistent strength in the loaf. Avoid folding one side firm and one side loose.
• Create a smooth top. All our folding and sealing is on the bottom of the loaf, leaving a smooth top that will look beautiful when baked.

Ready? Ok! Working one dough ball at a time, we’re going to shape each loaf into a rectangle. Here’s how:

Because there’s butter in the dough, your dough is slightly “non-stick” already. So you shouldn’t need to put flour on the counter. But if your hands are hot and sticky, flour them up slightly.
Turn the dough ball over and pat into a circle.

Fold the top third into the middle (like you’re folding a letter) and pat it down.

Fold the bottom third into the middle and pat it down

Pick up the loaf and stretch the ends gently.
Fold the left side into the middle, slightly overlapping the half way point.

Fold the right side into the middle, slightly overlapping the previous fold.

Using the outside of your hand, press a furrow horizontally across the middle of the dough.

Moving from right to left, fold the dough over the furrow with your left hand, and press the two ends together with the heel of your right hand. Keep folding and sealing the seam along the length of the loaf.

Using the heel of your hand, seal the seams on the sides of the rectangle.

Roll the loaf over and, if needed, roll it out slightly to match the length of your pan.

Place the loaf in the pan, seam side down

Repeat for the second loaf. Cover both pans with a towel and let rest in a warm place.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

So how did that go? Shaping loaves can be a frustrating step, but don’t get discouraged.

I picked a pan bread as the Learning Loaf because pan breads are very forgiving. If you have trouble building good tension in the loaf, the sides of the pan will support the loaf.

Also, pan breads have a tight crumb by design, so you don’t have to be super gentle during shaping.

Of all the steps in baking bread, I love shaping best. I love how, over years of baking every day, my hands have become extremely sensitive to the changes in the dough.

You can train your hands too, guaranteed. Keep baking and keep practicing!