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I don't see anything in the question that is peculiar to pizza dough. Anything I answer will apply to any kind of yeast-risen, glutenous dough. The goal with any such dough is a well hydrated protein matrix that has been arranged in sheets that will trap the gas produced by yeast. If the yeast is dead it won't be able to produce gas and your bread will be ...

Most small bakeries use small rotary mixers (like a Kenwood that stands as high as a man) that handle batches up to about 100lb - using a dough hook for bread. The really big bakeries use trough mixers with blades that turn along the length of the trough. A typical batch is around 600lb.

Allowing dough to rise twice results in a finer gluten structure than allowing it to rise once. It results in a smaller crumb and prevents huge gaping airholes in your bread. The reason that you have to let it re-rise is that you just pushed all the air out with the kneading you did developing that gluten structure.

Cookbooks describe the state as "smooth and elastic" I think this is a reasonable description. When the dough is first mixed it is very wet and sticky. As it is mixed you can see a lot of clumps and heterogeneous textures. As the proteins in the flour mix with water they form gluten and the kneading folds the elastic gluten over itself again and again ...

I had this exact same problem for years. And it was all about letting the dough relax. I'd get beautiful crusts, but never EVER pass the windowpane test. I was so confused. Turns out, all I had to do was leave it alone for about 10 minutes, much less and I'd still run into issues. The window pane test is intended to show that enough gluten has been ...

Up to a point, the more you can knead your dough the finer the texture of the bread. It is theoretically possible to knead to the point where the gluten structure falls apart. I've read that while it is unlikely when kneading by hand, it is easy to do with a machine mixer (it's never happened to me). However, the pita bread I've eaten wasn't anything like ...

Don't worry too much about it. Be careful that some doughs are wet (high hydration - look at my question here), so they tend to stick more and are harder to manage. If a dough is hard to manage, just let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours. It will become tougher and easier to handle. If you keep on adding flour, this will alter the bread formula ...

Once you start thinking in terms of techniques, it shouldn't be that hard. The book Ratio has an excellent overview of different methods for cakes. The blog pastrychefonline.com does as well. You can see an overview of the: Creaming method in which softened but not melted butter and sugar are whipped together first to create a network of air bubbles for ...

It sounds like it didn't have enough liquid in it. Assuming we are talking about a normal wheat-flour bread dough, I can't think of anything else that would lead to cracking and breaking. Properly hydrated bread dough should be quite moist and elastic, and the only way you can "break" it is to stretch it hard and fast with a pulling motion. Fixing this ...

There are several negative effects from over-kneading bread dough: Overheating - if the dough gets too warm, it will ferment too quickly (or over ferment) and will therefore lack flavour. Oxidisation - kneading for too long can cause the flour to oxidise and bleach, again impairing flavour. Breaking down - eventually the molecular bonds of the gluten will ...

If you do most of the kneading while the dough is very wet (like Jeff Varasano recommends for his pizza dough here http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm), you should be able to do most of it with even a comparatively weak hand mixer and not have too much trouble holding it steady enough (see link - gluten IS working even though the dough is still only ...

If I were to convert a machine kneading time to hand kneading time, I'd take the time and at least double it, perhaps between double and triple, depending on how strong/vigorous you are. The odds of over-kneading by hand are pretty low, as compared to by machine. I would guess that the flour substitutions or the coldness were more of an issue than the ...

One reason to do a second knead (and I'd do a real short, gentle one if required) is to redistribute the yeast a little, giving it fresh food to work on. But I'm not sure I'd actually knead twice even if I wanted to do that--I'd lightly punch down and fold the bread in thirds and call it done. As already said, the second rise does nice things for texture, ...

It's most likely (in my opinion) that the air (and subsequently air bubbles) is being introduced into your fondant at the kneading process rather than anything to do with your rolling method or surface used to roll on. Perhaps experiment a little on a more gentle but firm (as opposed to vigorous) kneading method and see if that removes those air bubbles in ...

I'd do one or more of a few things: Treat it like the dough in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, in which you sprinkle flour on top, then pull off a portion you need, then shape quickly into a ball, developing the outer skin, keeping the freshly floured side out. Chill down the dough, so it's firmer and easier to work with. (and then do #1 while it's ...

It is also possible to overknead for a specific bread dough recipe. For example, American Sandwich Loaf bread is a lightly kneaded, white-flour pan loaf, and if you kneaded it heavily you would get the wrong texture and flavor. It might still be good, but it would be a notably different bread. Likewise brioche, pain de mie, foccacia, potato bread, and ...

Im new to the site and I wish I could make this comment not an answer but I don't know how. Hand pulled noodles uses cake flour with less gluten and baking soda to reduce the gluten even further. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze2SphqrWyg&feature=g-hist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBSTSKY_DQs&feature=g-hist If you are hand kneading its ...

Given the high volume required for commercial bread making, I doubt any except the small mom and pop shops still knead dough by hand. From what I've seen (35 or so years ago...) visiting a small town bakery shop serving a few thousand people, they had a machine to do the work even then, a large steel vat in which all the ingredients are dumped and mixed ...

I love making bread. I make it every other day or three. (Also make your own butter it's so easy and tastes great plus less expensive than buying it. You can control the amount of salt.) My suggestion, as most of the reasons have already been very well addressed, is to split your recipe into two batches. Half of it should be cooked straight from its first ...

At the end of the day, you need to use as much flour as necessary to ensure the dough is not sticking. It's a lot worse to deal with a dough that is stuck to a pin or that is stuck to the table. The only time I've ever been told to watch how much flour to use for dusting was when I went to school, and that is because my teacher was a cheap old bugger (or so ...

You may be doing the test itself wrong. The idea is just to see if you can stretch your dough enough to create a translucent membrane. We're not talking plastic-wrap thin here -- just see if your dough holds together or tears easily as you stretch it out. It may help to give your dough a minute to rest before testing -- if you've just finished a lot of ...

You can definitely over mix any dough. The dough will become very shiny, very soft, and there will be very long, noticeable gluten strands. They are incredibly delicate, and will not hold any co2 for leavening purposes. I have seen this happen on many occassions. It is, however, difficult to do by hand. You will be tired if you try to do this by hand.

This is probably not ideal, but you could experiment with letting the dough rise in your refrigerator. The cold will slow down the yeast considerably, but in the very least you will have a consistent temperature to work with throughout the year. I've made the no-knead dough recipe quite a few times -- and every once in a while I will stash the dough in the ...

Leavened bread just seems to taste and bake much better with two or more knead & rise cycles. The knead process layers and stretches out the gluten to make a smooth, consistent texture which will hold together when baked; it also traps the yeast gas (CO2) as fine bubbles in the dough. After the last knead you should transfer the dough to the pre-warmed ...

I found this after researching a bit and tried the recommended method for kneading. According to it, too much folding while kneading causes air bubbles. So, to keep the air bubbles at a minimum, push out with the heel of hand. Stand stretched fondant up on it's side, push down, turn and repeat. I tried to fold as little as possible and instead of getting 6-7 ...

I've had this issue when making small batch of pizza dough. I either make a double batch of dough, freezing the leftover dough, or I just let it ride, it took a bit longer but the dough was functional. The kneading action appears to continue even though the dough is making limited contact with the bowl. Your exact model of kitchen aid and bowl size may ...

I solve this problem by tipping and holding the machine on the side. If the dough still does not let go of the hook, I turn the speed up for a couple of seconds. When the dough is loose I let the hook work it for a minute or so while the machine is still tipped over. This often gets the dough in such a state that it does not wrap around the hook but gets ...