Why do I hear so many conflicting POV's on kneading? Some people need their pizza dough to death and some barely knead at all, seems a little baffling to me. I understand the science of gluten development fairly well, but I still find the discrepancy in kneading times to be interesting.
Austin
Austin, it's good that you mentioned that you understand gluten development because that is what it ultimately is about. Gluten development/strength (along with the baking process) dictates crumb texture, not kneading times.
Kneading times are dependent on many variables including protein content, hydration levels, salt levels, use of autolyse or not and how long, oil, sugar, how the dough is mixed, the use of stretch and folds or not, cold fermentation or not and others. All these variables have both an independent effect and a collaborative effect on gluten development. It really doesn't matter how long you do or don't knead as long as you can arrive at your desired crumb texture post bake.
So knead times alone are useless unless they are considered in context of the overall formulation, method, and bake.
And then to complicate matters more, you have the subjectiveness of ideal look and texture. What is the right amount of "chew" to one person is too chewy to another. The listed knead times, in light of the specific recipe and method, will not make a pie that will suit everyone's ideal.
Aside from all that, I have tested under kneading, moderate kneading, and over kneading and have found that again the differences texturally are truely dependent on the rest of the formula and method. There is a lot of leeway here. A lot of variables that will make up for under or overkneading. But generally speaking, kneading develops gluten. Generally speaking, the more kneading you do, the more gluten is developed which translates into a chewier/drier crumb.
Chau
