How to Use a Dough Hook to Knead Bread | KitchenAid (2024)

FAQs

How to Use a Dough Hook to Knead Bread | KitchenAid? ›

If you have a bowl-lift stand mixer, slip the dough hook on the beater shaft and turn to the right, securing the hook over the pin and on the shaft. For a tilt-head stand mixer, tilt the motor head back and slip the dough hook on the shaft and press upward as far as it'll go.

You don't need to use the flat beater to mix the pasta dough; you can use the dough hook from the start. Once you've created your pasta dough, let it rest in clingfilm for at least 30 minutes. This can either be at room temperature in the kitchen, or in the fridge if you prefer.

Adding a little more flour (1 tablespoon at a time) will help the dough not to climb the hook as much. It's important to realise, however, that some dough will have a stickier consistency, so don't try to overcompensate with additional flour because it will make the bread too dry.

The biggest difference between using a dough hook to knead instead of kneading by hand is the amount of physical effort and time it takes. While manually kneading dough can take upwards of 20 minutes, you can get your dough smooth and elastic in around half the time when using a stand mixer, depending on your recipe.

A sticky dough will tend to climb the dough hook and even climb over the collar of the dough hook. Dough that contains eggs tends to be stickier and climb the hook more easily. Most specialty grains, but especially rye flour, form a sticky dough and will climb the hook more than white flour dough.

When properly adjusted, accessories should not strike the bottom or sides of the bowl.

A dough hook is a curved, hook-shaped attachment specifically made for kneading dough. It helps gluten strands develop quickly, making for easy and thorough kneading with quick clean up.

It's best to use the dough hook for any recipes that require kneading. If you are making a quickbread, like banana bread, that doesn't require kneading but does require thorough mixing of ingredients, you can use a pastry beater (or a flat beater).

Bread Loaves made with over-kneaded dough commonly end up with a hard crust and dry interior. Often upon cutting, slices will crumble. If your perfect bread loaf turns into a crumbly mess, don't worry. The overworked dough will work great when used as croutons or breadcrumbs.

The dough hook takes the elbow grease out of pizza dough, pasta dough, and all kinds of yeasted breads—if it's something you plan to stretch and shape in any way, you can probably use a dough hook for it.

Should I use a dough hook or dough roller? ›

If you only make one batch for one loaf, we recommend using the dough roller rather than the dough hook. The dough roller is also the preferred option when making doughs with a high liquid content or a lot of butter. (Read more about this here.) The dough roller is also very useful when baking gluten-free.

On a practical level, it takes up to 25 minutes—and some well-developed forearm muscles—to knead dough by hand, and just about 8 minutes to knead in the stand mixer with the dough hook. However, if you do not own a stand mixer, you can still mix dough by hand and make a good loaf of bread from most doughs.

A failure to knead dough (unless you're working with a no-knead recipe) can lead to: Poor gluten development: When you don't knead bread, the gluten won't form properly. This can result in a lack of elasticity and strength, meaning your final product is likely to come out of the oven dense and heavy.

For this reason, some recipes recommend using the paddle attachment to start mixing and then switching to the dough hook once a rough dough is formed. You can also simply stir the ingredients with a spatula or other tool first.