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92 votes
Accepted

When making batter/dough, why is it really bad to clean your spoon by hitting it on the edge of the bowl a few times?

Oh, those cooking myths! Whenever you think you have heard them all, there's a new one. In a yeasted dough, the yeast is perfectly fine with being tossed, beaten and generally mangled. The little ...
Stephie's user avatar
  • 58.6k
65 votes

Why does frozen food still have an expiration date?

Frozen food does spoil over time. Much slower than even just thawed, sure, but don't expect that something that would spoil within few days at just above 0°C will last with unchanged quality for years ...
cbeleites unhappy with SX's user avatar
60 votes
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Why throw pizza dough besides for show?

A lot of it depends on the type of pizza you make. Where I worked we did thin crust pizza, and these were the reasons we tossed: Speed. Trying to roll or pat out a 17 inch pizza would be very time ...
trosborn's user avatar
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56 votes
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Why would plant-based cookie dough packaging say "Do not consume raw dough"?

I was surprised at how difficult it was to find the answer, but I eventually found articles by the FDA and CDC. Consumers should be aware that there are additional risks associated with the ...
Ryan's user avatar
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52 votes
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Why does KitchenAid recommend against using the Dough Hook on Speed 1?

A KitchenAid mixer does not have adjustable gearing; at low speeds it’s being run at low power. If run at low power with a viscous, resistant load like bread dough it can end up stalling, either ...
Sneftel's user avatar
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38 votes
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Why is churro dough created with boiling water?

Churro dough is a variant of choux pastry. While yeasted doughs rise through the expansion of gas created by the yeast, and "quick bread" batters rise through gas created by chemical ...
Sneftel's user avatar
  • 26.9k
34 votes

Why throw pizza dough besides for show?

Those who favor throwing pizza argue that it is the best way to stretch and shape the dough without risking a puncture or tear. Some claim this extra exposure to the air helps the dough retain ...
moscafj's user avatar
  • 73.8k
31 votes
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Why does dough and its ingredients need to be cold?

It's not drastically important in making it workable, it's more important in the texture of the finished result. When you roll out pastry dough, you are created interleaving layers of fat and the ...
ElendilTheTall's user avatar
30 votes
Accepted

What causes dough made from coconut flour to not stick together?

Gluten is what makes a dough stick together and have structure. Coconut flour has no gluten, so the resulting dough will be a crumbly mess. Intentionally gluten free recipes usually contain any number ...
user141592's user avatar
  • 10.6k
28 votes

Flatbread dough turned red

As Joe mentioned, there was something acting as a litmus paper! Turmeric placed in an alkaline solution will turn bright red! quoted from: https://foodcrumbles.com/how-turmeric-gets-its-color/ Most ...
mcjlnrtwcz's user avatar
27 votes

Why would plant-based cookie dough packaging say "Do not consume raw dough"?

There is no rule that plant based food is safe to be eaten raw. Also, on a side note, the salmonella reasoning was somewhat misguided - not that it isn't a risk, but it isn't the reason why cookie ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 136k
25 votes

Old biscuit recipe question - "until the dough blisters"

Per this historical post from Old Mill: “These [cold water biscuits] were made before leavening agents were available to make them rise. You would knead the dough until it was elastic, then beat it ...
DoctorOptimist's user avatar
20 votes

When making batter/dough, why is it really bad to clean your spoon by hitting it on the edge of the bowl a few times?

There may be a few batters that are sensitive to shocks or loud noises, but most will not be (see Stephie's answer for more detail). In my household, the real reason for not beating the spoon was ...
Kyle A's user avatar
  • 301
20 votes

How to clean up after kneading dough?

Kneading in a bowl is time-consuming and doesn't give as good a result as kneading on a flat surface, however I'll concentrate on cleaning. First, don't let things dry out, it's much easier to clean ...
GdD's user avatar
  • 75.4k
20 votes

How to clean up after kneading dough?

Alternatively (with respect to @GdD's answer), let it dry out completely. Totally dry dough doesn't stick all that well to many surfaces (glass, plastic, non-stick). It then chips/scrapes off quite ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 43.8k
19 votes

Using sugar when making pizza dough

There are plenty of fermentable sugars in the flours commonly used in pizza making. Additional sugar is completely unnecessary.
moscafj's user avatar
  • 73.8k
18 votes
Accepted

How does the folding make the dough stronger?

A "strong" dough is a dough which holds together well. Bread doughs and pasta doughs, when compared to other doughs, are strong in the sense that they are not crumbly, but very cohesive. ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 136k
18 votes

After rolling pizza dough, how do I move it to a pan without ruining it?

Either your dough is too wet, or you're trying to roll it all out in one go. You cannot get enough flour under a ball of dough to survive being rolled out to 12". Roll it, flip it, turn it; flour ...
Tetsujin's user avatar
  • 29.7k
16 votes

Can you make pasta dough in a breadmaker?

No. Pasta dough is much firmer than bread dough and could possibly break the machine or the blade.
Rob's user avatar
  • 2,192
16 votes

What proportion of the natural yeast in Sourdough comes from the flour?

It Depends, but ... First, it depends on the flour. Bleached, sterilized, hot-rolled white flour has the least (possibly none) naturally-occurring wild yeast on it. Cold-rolled unbleached organic ...
FuzzyChef's user avatar
  • 61.4k
15 votes

Is sugar a necessary ingredient to feed yeast?

The answer is that there are a range of (natural) sugars in the flour and a range of sugars that can be generated by the yeast by breaking down the starches and other carbohydrates in flour. Yeast are ...
bob1's user avatar
  • 13.9k
14 votes
Accepted

Dough failed to rise

Could be that your yeast was simply not alive. You could simply try to bloom the yeast with water and sugar. It should become visibly active within a few minutes.
Uncle Long Hair's user avatar
14 votes

Can dough mixture be refrigerated?

The refrigerator won’t kill your yeast, but it will also merely slow down, not stop its activity. Yeast is most active (multiplying and producing CO2) at temperatures around 30°C - that’s why most ...
Stephie's user avatar
  • 58.6k
12 votes
Accepted

How to roll pasta thinly by hand

If the dough is springing back, it's cause the gluten is still tight. Let it rest for 15-20 minutes, then try again.
Rob's user avatar
  • 2,192
12 votes
Accepted

Can I add new yeast to a dough I made with dead yeast?

Yes, you can knead it in and it will still work. I've forgotten yeast when making bread and added it in at the end, it still rose and I got a good result. How you do it depends on the type of yeast. '...
GdD's user avatar
  • 75.4k
11 votes

Raw dough storage

Options With yeast-leavened dough, there are two approaches you can take: par-bake refrigerate With chemically-leavened dough, you can't refrigerate, but you get a third option: don't mix. (...
derobert's user avatar
  • 13.2k
11 votes

Why does frozen food still have an expiration date?

They are most likely "best by" dates, meaning quality may suffer, but they remain safe.
moscafj's user avatar
  • 73.8k
11 votes

Why does boiling water make dough taste sweet?

Flour is mostly starch, and starches are long chains of sugar molecules. When you add hot water to starches they gelatinize and burst, and these gelatinized starches soften the dough. Gelatinization ...
GdD's user avatar
  • 75.4k
11 votes

How does the folding make the dough stronger?

Gluten in wheat forms strands when it comes in contact with water. Whether kneading or stretching and folding, this process process aligns and strengthens those strands. That is how the dough becomes ...
moscafj's user avatar
  • 73.8k
11 votes

Can dough mixture be refrigerated?

You have functionally made a biga! You'll end up with a kind of sloppy dough mess, that'll look deeply unpromising. This is fine. See biga in Wikipedia. It's fine to refrigerate, with some caveats - ...
lupe's user avatar
  • 274

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