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Had a talk with my grandma about her old bread recipe
My grandma watched me struggle with a dense loaf last Sunday and said I was 'overworking the dough like it owes you money.' She showed me her 60-year-old method of barely kneading it for 5 minutes and letting time do the work. Anyone else have a family member who totally changed how you approach a recipe?
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green.noah8d ago
Totally feel this, my mom had the same wisdom about pie dough.
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shane_bell12d ago
That thing about overworking dough is so true. My aunt said the same thing about her pie crust and now I barely touch it before it goes in the fridge. It's wild how a lighter touch and some patience can fix everything you thought you were doing wrong.
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colethomas11d ago
Yeah but the thing about barely touching dough before it goes in the fridge, that's actually not the full story. You do need to handle it enough to bring it together into a ball or disk, otherwise you'll have a crumbly mess that won't roll out right. The key is mixing until it just holds together, then stopping. Overworking is when you keep kneading or smushing it after that point, which develops too much gluten. So don't go too far the other way either. A light touch is great but you still have to give it enough attention to get the fat distributed and the dough cohesive.
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