How to Determine if Bread Dough Has Been Mixed Long Enough

Steps

1. After about 5 minutes of kneading especially when dough feels stretchy, pinch off a small piece and stretch it slowly apart
2. Pulling and rotating it gently to stretch this piece of dough into a thin, translucent membrane
3. If it tears easily, continue kneading a few more minutes and try the test again

Tips

• It would help if your fingers are adequately floured
• Consider adding either more water or flour if dough has still not set up (still sticky to touch) after 10 minutes or so of kneading

Warnings

• Overmixed dough is tringy and tends to stick to your fingers like bubblegum. The good news is that it takes a long time to overmix dough. Unfortunately, there is no remedy for overmixed dough. You just have to throw it away and start over.

Things You'll Need

• Fundamental knowledge of what gluten is and how it develops

External Links

• Although windowpane test is simple to do, it's helpful to understand the formation of gluten to fully appreciate the essence of this test. Visit http://www.cookies-in-motion.com/Gourmet-Cookies.html for easy-to-understand details of gluten development.