Preparing The Dough:
Mixing and Kneading
Mixing The first step in making bread is to
mix the ingredients together. The moment
flour meets water, several processes begin.
Broken starch granules absorb water, and
enzymes digest their exposed starch into
sugars. The yeast cells feed on the sugars,
producing carbon dioxide and alcohol. The
glutenin proteins absorb some water and
sprawl out into their elongated coils; the coils
of neighboring molecules form many weak
bonds with each other and thus form the first
strands of gluten. We see the dough take on a
vaguely fibrous appearance, and feel it cohere
to itself. When it’s stirred with a spoon, the
protein aggregates are drawn together into
visible filaments and form what has been
vividly described as a “shaggy mass.” At the
same time, a number of substances in the
flour cause breaks in and blocking of the end-