Serious question, I switched from a stand mixer to hand mixing for my sourdough and the loaves are way better now.

For three months, my sourdough was coming out a bit dense and flat, even though I followed the same recipe. I broke my mixer last week and had to do the folds by hand, and suddenly the crumb opened up and the flavor got deeper. Is there something about the gentler touch of hand mixing that a machine just can't do?

3 comments

3 Comments

adam_young311mo ago

Did you get more rise with hand mixing too?

laurar381mo ago

Totally get what you mean about the gentler touch. I had the same thing happen, my dough was always overworked with the machine. Hand mixing just lets it develop slower and better.

lisa_hill2329d ago

Honestly, it's like we're trying to automate the feel out of everything. My bread got better by hand too, and I've seen the same thing with gardening and even fixing stuff around the house. The machine just goes full speed every time, but your hands can tell when the dough needs a rest or a little more push. You lose that tiny bit of judgment when you let a gadget do the thinking for you. It's a small choice that changes the whole result.