On Food and Cooking

begins. Whether the dough is kneaded by hand
or in an electrical mixer, it undergoes a
similar kind of physical manipulation: it is
stretched, folded over, compressed, stretched,
folded, and compressed many times. This
manipulation strengthens the gluten network.
It unfolds the proteins further, orients them
side by side and encourages the development
of many weak bonds between neighbors. The
glutenin molecules also form strong end-to-
end bonds with each other and thus a cohering
network of extensive gluten chains. The dough
gradually gets stiff, harder to manipulate, and
takes on a fine, satiny appearance. (If the
dough is worked so hard that many end-to-end
bonds start breaking, its overall structure
breaks down, and the dough becomes sticky
and inelastic. Overdevelopment is a real
problem only when kneading is done
mechanically.)