My mom told me to never use a stand mixer for bread dough

She ran a small bakery in Fresno for 30 years and always kneaded by hand. She said machines would overheat the dough and ruin the gluten. For years, I did it her way, and my arms were always tired after two loaves. Last month, I got a KitchenAid and tried it on a simple white bread recipe. The dough came together in 8 minutes, and the windowpane test was perfect. The rise was better than anything I'd done by hand. Now I use it for every batch. Was her advice just from a different time, or did I get lucky? What's your take on hand vs. machine kneading?

3 comments

3 Comments

susanb341mo ago

My grandma swore by her Sunbeam mixer for bread in the 70s.

paige3311mo ago

But was it really that much better than today's mixers?

kelly.hannah1mo ago

Honestly, I get where your mom was coming from, but modern machines are just built different. My KitchenAid has never overheated my dough, it just gets the job done fast and leaves my arms free to do other stuff. I mean, maybe @paige331 has a point about older mixers, but the new ones with a dough hook are seriously good. I tried the windowpane test after machine kneading and it was perfect every time, so I'm sticking with it.