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For kneading of clay, see wedging
List of pottery terms

Historically the production of pottery has been a characteristic of human activity in most areas of the world. Over time, each culture has established terms which define tools, ingredients and production techniques....
Kneading is a process in the making of bread
Bread

Bread is a staple food prepared by baking a dough of flour and water. It may be leavened or unleavened. Edible salt, fat and a leavening agent such as yeast are common ingredients, though bread may contain a range of other ingredients: milk, Egg , sugar, spice, fruit , vegetables , Nut or seeds ....
, used to mix together the ingredients and add strength to the bread. Its importance lies in the mixing of flour
Flour

Flour is a powder made of cereal grains. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history....
 with water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
. When these two ingredients are combined and kneaded, the gliadin
Gliadin

Gliadin is a glycoprotein present in wheat and several other cereals within the grass genus Triticum. Gliadins are prolamins and are separated on the basis of electrophoresis mobility and isoelectric focusing....
 and glutenin
Glutenin

Glutenin is the glutelin derived from wheat. Gluteninis a protein best known for its role, along with gliadin, in the creation of gluten with its disulfide inter- and intra-molecule links....
 proteins in the flour expand and form strands of gluten
Gluten

Gluten is a composite of the proteins gliadin and glutenin. These exist, conjoined with starch, in the endosperms of some Triticeae glutens cereal, notably wheat, rye, and barley....
, which gives bread its texture. (To aid gluten production, many recipes use bread flour
Flour

Flour is a powder made of cereal grains. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history....
, which is higher in protein than all-purpose flour.) The kneading process warms and stretches these gluten strands, eventually creating a springy and elastic dough.






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For kneading of clay, see wedging
List of pottery terms

Historically the production of pottery has been a characteristic of human activity in most areas of the world. Over time, each culture has established terms which define tools, ingredients and production techniques....
Kneading is a process in the making of bread
Bread

Bread is a staple food prepared by baking a dough of flour and water. It may be leavened or unleavened. Edible salt, fat and a leavening agent such as yeast are common ingredients, though bread may contain a range of other ingredients: milk, Egg , sugar, spice, fruit , vegetables , Nut or seeds ....
, used to mix together the ingredients and add strength to the bread. Its importance lies in the mixing of flour
Flour

Flour is a powder made of cereal grains. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history....
 with water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
. When these two ingredients are combined and kneaded, the gliadin
Gliadin

Gliadin is a glycoprotein present in wheat and several other cereals within the grass genus Triticum. Gliadins are prolamins and are separated on the basis of electrophoresis mobility and isoelectric focusing....
 and glutenin
Glutenin

Glutenin is the glutelin derived from wheat. Gluteninis a protein best known for its role, along with gliadin, in the creation of gluten with its disulfide inter- and intra-molecule links....
 proteins in the flour expand and form strands of gluten
Gluten

Gluten is a composite of the proteins gliadin and glutenin. These exist, conjoined with starch, in the endosperms of some Triticeae glutens cereal, notably wheat, rye, and barley....
, which gives bread its texture. (To aid gluten production, many recipes use bread flour
Flour

Flour is a powder made of cereal grains. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history....
, which is higher in protein than all-purpose flour.) The kneading process warms and stretches these gluten strands, eventually creating a springy and elastic dough. If the dough is not kneaded enough, it will not be able to hold the tiny pockets of air (CO2) created by the leavening agent
Leavening agent

A leavening agent is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batter that cause a foaming action which lightens and softens the finished product....
 (such as yeast
Yeast

Yeasts are eukaryote microorganisms classified in the Kingdom fungus, with about 1,500 species currently described; they dominate fungal diversity in the oceans....
 or baking powder
Baking powder

Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods such as muffins, cakes, and cookies ....
), and will collapse, leaving a heavy and dense loaf.

Kneading can be performed with a breadmaker, a mixer
Mixer (cooking)

A mixer is a kitchen appliance intended for mixing, folding, beating, and whipping food ingredients. Mixers come in two major variations, hand mixers and stand mixers....
, a dough hook or by hand. The dough (which usually consists of flour, salt
Salt

A salt, in chemistry, is defined as the product formed from the neutralisation reaction of acids and base . Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically electric charge ....
, water, fat
Fat

Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water. Chemistry, fats are generally ester of glycerol and fatty acids....
 and yeast) is put on a floured surface, pressed and stretched with the heel of the hand, folded over, and rotated through 90º repeatedly. This process continues until the dough is elastic and smooth. The dough can then be allowed to rise or "prove
Proofing (baking technique)

Proofing is a step in creating yeast breads and Baking where the yeast is allowed to leaven the dough. This step is not often explicitly named, and normally shows up in recipes as "Allow dough to rise"....
".

Similar to kneading is knocking back or punching down, which is done to the dough after proving. The dough is punched once or twice, after which it is kneaded gently for a short time. The aim of this is to remove any large air pockets which have formed in the dough, create an even texture in the bread and redistribute the nutrients for the yeast, thus allowing fermentation to continue. The dough can then be proved a second time. Another method of knocking back (also known as "folding") is to gently stretch and pat out the proved dough before folding the sides in towards the centre.

Footnotes


See also

  • Rolling pin
    Rolling pin

    Belan redirects here. For the wine grape also known as Belan see Grenache blancA rolling pin is a cylindrical List of food preparation utensils used to shape and flatten dough....


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