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Re: Short mixing times

Brown_D@kids.wustl.edu
Tue, 12 Aug 2003 23:01:17 -0500
v103.n035.10
I'm not sure if this counts as "short mixing times"--but I have enjoyed 
using the Cusinart technique outline by Charles Van Over in "The Best Bread 
Ever" for nearly all of my breads since I read his book.  The short version:

Using a sufficiently powerful cuisinart (the 11 or 14 cup bowl-sized 
processor) and the standard metal blade, NOT the dough blade, add the dry 
ingredients for one loaf of bread up to a max of about 500g flour to the 
bowl (including flour, salt, instant yeast);

add ice-water cold liquid ingredients all at once with the machine on;

let mix until the dough comes together into a mass and starts to clean the 
sides of the bowl;

let rest 15 minutes to hydrate the flour;

mix again "on" for 45 seconds, pausing briefly to correct with a little 
more flour or water if needed;

turn out dough and round or shape as needed for the next step, which now is 
usually overnight in the fridge per Peter Reinhart.

Total time, start to finish is about 16 minutes, but most of that is the 
resting step:  the actual mix is about 2 minutes--although it is very 
vigorous mixing.  I've used this combination to make pain l' ancienne, 
pizzas, buttermilk sandwich bread, and various flatbreads and fruit and nut 
breads.

Diane Brown in St. Louis