Smooth, Round Ball of Dough?
Last Updated on July 26, 2020
I say something like this in almost every bread machine recipe:
Check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. Just pop the top of the bread machine and see how the dough is doing. It should be a smooth, round ball.
If you’re new to the bread-making game you might wonder what I mean by that. So here you are, a photo of a smooth, round ball of dough in the bread machine:
If the dough is too dry add liquid a teaspoon at a time until the dough balls up. If it looks too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks as expected.
Not Enough Flour
Wondering what it looks like when you need to add some flour?
One Thanksgiving weekend I made some dough that looked like the below after kneading.
It’s not one ball, it’s two balls of dough. See the smeared area that I’ve circled in blue? That’s a sure sign that the dough isn’t going to behave when it’s removed from the machine. I added flour and that helped a lot.
Hi Marsha
Your pictures of the ideal Smooth, “Round Ball of Dough ”
and bread that has a ” valley in the middle ” are very helpful
I have been having problems with Rye Bread Rising ( I only use 25 percent Rye Flour)
I have in the North of England – no problems with high temperature here
Thank you for your helpful Web page
Kind regards,
Derek
Thank you so much for the kind words. Are you using the wheat or white cycle on your bread? If you’re using the white cycle you might try the wheat cycle instead to give the bread more time to rise.