How Kneading Dough Works and Why It’s Important

Kneading is the practice of working ingredients together to form a dough to evenly mix ingredients and develop the structure of the interior, or crumb. You can knead bread or cake dough by hand on a lightly floured work surface (achieved by bringing the side of your hand underneath the dough and folding it up over itself, pressing it into the center with the heel of your hand) or by using the dough hook attachment of a stand mixer or a bread machine.

During the process of kneading dough, two key proteins within the flour, gliadin and glutenin, combine to form strands of gluten. Kneading warms up those strands, which allows the proteins to expand during fermentation and encourages the molecules to bond, making for a more elastic dough with better structure.

The kneading process—or lack of it—is the difference between a moist, crumbly cake and a chewy, crackly loaf of sourdough. Kneading dough is important because it:

• Helps gluten form. When you mix flour and water, two key proteins within the flour, gliadin and glutenin, combine to form strands of gluten. Kneading warms up those strands, which allows the proteins to expand during fermentation and encourages the molecules to bond, making for a more elastic dough with better structure.
• Distributes yeast evenly. Kneading spreads the carbon dioxide bubbles caused by fermentation evenly throughout the dough, creating a consistent crumb, distributes yeast equally, and evens out the dough’s temperature, allowing for uniform proofing and baking of the final product.
• Adds volume. Properly developed gluten allows the dough to hold the gas bubbles created by the baking soda or yeast in the recipe; those trapped bubbles lead to airy pockets and height within a loaf of bread.

When working the dough, it’s important to perform the windowpane test to ensure that you’re not over-kneading it, which can result in a tough, stiff dough. Compressing the air out of a dough leaves no room for expansion, and overworked gluten is just as brittle as underworked gluten, leading to tough crusts and a dense, dry crumb.

To perform the windowpane test, break off a small piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough to see through. If you can indeed see through it, you’re done kneading. If the dough breaks before you can stretch it out that thin, keep kneading.

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