The Dos and Dough-nts of Mixing

Ever wonder why your cake turned out tough or why your cookies are too hard? The answer most likely lies in the amount of time you mixed your dough for. Many recipes have a specific time to mix the dough. It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to make sure you follow that specific time. Disastrous things can happen if you don’t. The reason behind this lies in the science of baking, yep I’m bringing that word up again: science. The science behind dough begins with gluten. Gluten is a protein that forms by mixing flour and water. Gluten is responsible for allowing baked goods to expand. Over mixing can cause the extra formation of gluten which can lead to many problems while baking. Some problems for example:

• ·        Cake is tough or crumbly
• ·        Cookies are too hard
• ·        Pie dough is too tough
• ·        Yeast bread spilt or burst crust

Undermixing dough can also cause problems such as:

• ·         Sticky dough
• ·         Pie crust edges fall over
• ·         Biscuits do not come out flaky

The mixing stage in baking can be considered the most important step. So if you take anything away from this blog at all DON’T OVER MIX OR UNDER MIX YOUR DOUGH!! If mixing is done wrong, there is absolutely no way of correcting it. Use discipline and set that timer for the exact amount of mixing time required. 

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