How to knead bread dough

When flour is mixed with water this makes gluten. Kneading develops the gluten and makes the dough stretchy and elastic. Our short video takes you through the process.

Lightly dust the work surface with plain flour.

Lay your room-temperature dough on the surface.

Stretch it away from you with the heel or knuckles of one hand and fold it back over the top towards you.

Repeat the stretch and fold process again and again for 10 minutes. The dough is kneaded enough when your hands are fairly clean of flour and dough residue. This is because the dough has absorbed the water and is therefore drier.

Shape the dough into your desired shape and leave to prove.

When working with very wet dough, follow the same steps but use a plastic dough scraper to scrape up the dough when doing the initial stretching and folding, until the dough becomes softer.