I have been warning people not to add too much butter from the get-go to avoid any errors. I have always told that anything over 10% would prevent good gluten development and that butter should ideally be added once the dough has been kneaded for a while. Butter is an amazing ingredient. It makes bread soft, and it gives it a wonderful flavour and aroma. The mouthfeel of bread made with butter is smooth and pleasant. But what is the best way to incorporate butter into bread dough? The most common one – adding softened butter to a dough that has been kneaded for a while. For this method butter is left at room temperature to soften. The dough is kneaded for 3 – 4 minutes depending on the amount of dough and other ingredients in it. After the initial kneading the softened butter is added and ‘torn in’. It is slightly messy to begin with as you must squeeze the dough and butter together until they are combined. Then the kneading continues until sufficient gluten development. Quite often from the point of adding the butter onwards you must switch to the ‘slap & fold’ kneading method as the dough can become quite loose. This will depend on the type of dough and the amount of butter that is added to it. From a shaggy and sticky mass, it soon turns into a silky smooth and cohesive dough ball. While this method is a little messy for a few minutes, it works well and has never failed me. - @eirene_belle