dissolved yeast, slightly beaten eggs and milk if the recipe calls for these. Slowly add the liquid

ingredients to the bowl while stirring with a heavy spoon. As the dough starts forming, it gets harder

and harder to stir. When it gets to this stage, dump the dough on a large cutting board or counter top,

and switch to hand mixing. As soon as the dough is formed, start kneading. If it feels too sticky,

sprinkle a little more flour on and work it in. If too stiff, sprinkle the dough with water and work it

in.

2. The second method is faster and more professional, using a dough cutter, also called the

bench scraper, a very useful kitchen tool. A dough cutter is square 4x6-inch (10 to 15 cm) steel with

a handle on one long edge. The straight edge of the dough cutter is its blade, not sharp as a knife but

thin enough to easily cut dough. It also makes cleanup work easy when you use it as an efficient

scraper to clean the dough off your work surface.

To mix dough with a dough cutter, pile the dry ingredients in a small mound in the middle

of your work surface. Your liquid ingredients are ready in a bowl. Reshape the flour mound to form

a large well in the middle, and pour all liquid into this well. Using the blade of your dough cutter

start mixing the flour into the liquid little by little, scraping small additions at a time into the liquid

until well mixed, then adding some more. Keep an outside dike of dry ingredients around the liquid

so none escapes from the well. By the time you get to the last ring of flour, the ingredients should

form a dough. Now a few more turns by hand and the dough is ready for kneading.

A variation on this second method is to use your hands instead of the dough cutter to draw

the flour into the liquid. It is also fast, but you end up with sticky, gooey fingers, a sure signal for

the telephone to ring.

A good bread dough is neither sticky nor stiff but just comfortable to shape or manipulate.

However, it is always better to be slightly on the too-moist side than too stiff. If your dough is too

stiff, it resists the force of the enlarging bubbles and you don't get the fullest rising possible. A very

stiff dough barely rises on proofing or in the oven. A slightly sticky dough rises much better, plus it

also has plenty of extra moisture to turn into vapor in the oven, vapor that further helps to enlarge

gas bubbles in the dough giving you a coarse, airy, light texture. But beware of too sticky dough or

it spreads on the baking sheet before it solidifies.

Most bread recipes call for a fixed amount of liquid and instruct you to adjust the dough by

adding more or less flour. However, starting with fixed amount of flour is a better approach,

because you end up with a specific-sized bread. Start with the flour and add warm water gradually

until the dough has the perfect consistency.

When you add sharp-edged ingredients to your dough, such as coarse cracked grains, it is a

good idea to add them only after kneading and mix them in by hand. The sharp edges may damage

the gluten strands and sheets, particularly with powerful machine kneading. Damaged gluten can

limit the dough from rising to its fullest.

Kneading

Many bakers claim the second reason for bread baking is the sensuous feel and delight of

manipulating the living dough by hand. It is relaxing, therapeutic and a thrill to work with

responsive dough. It also gives your hands, wrists and entire arms a good workout. If you choose

hand kneading, keep the board and your hands floured to prevent the dough from sticking, but avoid

using any more than a dusting or your dough stiffens up. Choose a solid, firm and hard work

surface, such as a sturdy table, butcher block or counter at waist level or lower.

Kneading by hand takes about 8 to 10 minutes, a little longer if you are gentle with the

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