🔥 The original stress reliever toy for me has always been the process of kneading the dough by hand! Obviously, kneading dough does take a little time, but the effort is well worth it, especially because you are already taking the time to make bread from scratch. I think you'll find it's actually one of the most enjoyable steps in bread-making (well, except for the smelling and tasting parts at the end). Silky smooth, stretchy and cushiony... kneading dough is the original stress reliever toy! Kneading length varies greatly in yeast bread recipes. Some doughs take just 3-5 minutes, while others can take up to 15-25 minutes. How to Knead Dough by Hand I much prefer to knead dough by hand, for several reasons: • Some doughs can be really heavy, and might be too much for your mixer to handle. • Letting a stand mixer do the work can potentially lead to over-kneading the dough. It's a lot harder to over-knead dough with your hands, because you get a good feel for the dough, and will notice as the texture changes. And also... you would likely get very tired before you reach that point! • And of course, kneading by hand is a great stress reliever-give it a try! As you can see in the video • Don't add any more flour than you really need-use just enough to prevent it from sticking too much to your hands and work surface. The dough should still feel a little tacky. • If the dough starts sticking to your hands, add a little more flour to your hands, rather than to the dough, so you don't throw off that careful ratio of ingredients in your bread recipe. You can use this technique with any yeast dough that requires kneading, whether you're baking sandwich bread, cinnamon rolls, or homemade pizza. - @eirene_belle