How To Knead Bread Dough?

I have always wanted to blog about this but I have been too busy with baking and working in the holiday. Time is seriously not sufficient for the last 2 weeks of holiday. It has always been that way - always busy at the end of the holidays.

Personally, I think I'm very proud of my own bun products.

I captured this with 1 hand and another hand experimenting the bun.

It's my mini Mexico bun in paper cup. 

I hope you can see the softness and tenderness of the bun.

Forgive the poor quality of video due to low intensity light in my kitchen.

*proud*

*very proud*

*extremely proud*

Hahahahaha - 

I'm in love with my sweet dough bun recipe - HERE 

Many people are crazy over bread machine. There was one moment when everybody (referring to bakers and housewives) were fancied with the Tesco Bread Maker. It is indeed cheap, at the price of roughly RM 200. I used to think of having one but I changed my mind after I notice I can actually learn how to knead dough by using my hands. Though I cannot deny the fact that I am not as strong as the machine, I think my hands still do a perfect job for me. 

Let me list down quickly the pros and cons of having a Tesco Bread Maker machine.
PROS

• Ease your job when you want to make buns/breads 
• Maybe - form the dough with better thin membrane

CONS

• Requires payment
• Takes triple longer time than hand knead to form the dough 
• Makes you lazy and even fatter by making everything so simple and you don't have to sweat a drop to get your dough ready 

Based on my experience, I think bread dough kneading is a fun process. I enjoy doing this while watching my favorite drama - 1 episode (40 minutes roughly). It is a good form of exercise before eating the high calories bun. Therefore, I really high recommend hand knead than machine aid for people who are young and have no health problems. Another reason why I like to do this is because I think it eases my mind and brings me serenity as I knead. It makes you focus and forget every damn thing that is negative at the moment. 

So the question now is, HOW-TO-DO-IT?

I made this for my Aunty. Therefore, everything's in Mandarin. I'll translate according to the number: 

1. Put all ingredients except butter into the big pail.
2. Use a pair of chopsticks to mix all the ingredients (roughly). 
3. Knead using your hands by pushing the dough forward and collect-back, repeatedly until you achieve a state where your dough is not sticky anymore. Please use some energy here to get the work done quicker. 
4. Add in butter which works best at room temperature. 
5. Continue to knead until your dough turns into a shiny and smooth surface dough. Check your dough by examining if it is able to pull out a thin membrane. It's okay if it breaks a little but make sure it can at least pull out a membrane. It is a failure if your dough breaks IMMEDIATELY when you pull. 
6. Proof the dough in the closed-up oven with a bowl of hot water to aid the rate of proofing. Wait till its size is double. Get rid of the air in the dough by pressing the dough lightly. Measure the desired portion dough and fill it up with filing (optional). Proof the buns on baking sheet/mat until it is double in size again. Apply egg wash. Bake at 170 degree Celsius for 13 - 15 minutes (baking time depends on the size of your buns). 

I think the pictures do display well what kind of appearance the dough should look like at critical points when making. Adding butter too early will result in a less optimum result. 

I'll add on some points on what makes your bun hard and not soft like bakery's. 

1. You didn't proof your buns (the second proofing before baking) long enough and immediately bake it. This will cause your buns not able to achieve its maximum softness and therefore after baking it, the buns will be a little stiff and hard.
2. You didn't knead long enough until you achieve the thin membrane stage. 
3. You didn't keep your buns in an air tight container when they still have some remaining heat. Don't wait til your buns are totally cold in room temperature. All the moisture will be evaporated and leaving your buns dry and hard.
4. You baked too long and your buns have totally dried up/lose its moisture. 

Based on my experience, the above 3 reasons are the common mistakes done by people who are unfamiliar with bread making. Identify and rectify your mistakes to bake really delicious - bakery liked buns. If I can do it, you can too! Happy baking. 

BEWARE:

Never ever over proof your buns. Otherwise, you will have all your effort and time wasted by getting a deflated buns at the end of baking. 

TIPS:

To save high protein flour (bread flour) which I find relatively expensive compared to the other types of flour, I often mix flour. I didn't measure accordingly but usually in the ratio of 1:1 or 1:2. You can always mix with low protein flour or normal wheat flour or even oat grind flour. The results are still perfect to me even though I mix the different flour together. The factor which influences the tenderness of bun is point #2. Failure to achieve the thin membrane stage in kneading is a huge failure in bread tenderness after bake.