Kneading Times & "Dough Creep" on Bosch Universal Plus Mixer

[BurntEdges]

Made 4 pounds of dough with the Bosch Universal Plus mixer using the dough recipe detailed on Reply #8 in this thread - http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7770.0.html .   It's a high hydration dough, around 68% when converted to baker percents on the dough calculator.

The recipe as provided yields about 2 pounds of dough which I made previously on a 5 quart KitchenAid mixer.  After combining the poolish, the autolyse mixture, and the remaining flour, yeast, salt, I kneaded the mixture on the KA about 6 to 7 minutes on Stir speed and it produced a fine dough.  I used the spiral dough hook and the KA struggled with the final knead, but got it done.

This is my first use of the Bosch and I doubled the above recipe, but was certain that the Bosch would handle it without moaning, and it did.  But I had two performance related questions in seeing how the Bosch ultimately produced the final dough.  My first question concerned the kneading time.  I kneaded the dough until nearly smooth, as I would do in the KA, but it took the Bosch 15 minutes to get there on speed 1.  In doubling the quantity of the recipe I did not expect that the kneading time would be double the KA.  Also, I thought that the Bosch kneaded it more effectively and would require less kneading time, all things being equal, than the KA.  I was expecting that the Bosch would knock it out in 7 to 10 minutes.  Is this how long it takes the Bosch to knead 4 pounds of a high hydration dough?  I've read where members are making 8 to 12 pounds of pizza dough in this mixer - what is the kneading time on that quantity? 

My second question concerns what I will call "Dough Creep" on the center shaft of the mixing bowl.  Akin to scraping down the sides of the KA mixing bowl, I had to intermittently stop the mixer and scrape down the dough which would ride up the center shaft, nearly to the top of the dough hook arms.  I had seen demo videos where all the dough ingredients were put in and kneaded until a single ball formed without having to stop & scrape.  Towards the end of the knead the creeping subsided, but was surprised that I had to scrape it down.  I even let it go for a while without scraping thinking that as the dough finished it would pull it down from the shaft, but that didn't happen.  Is this a function of the high hydration dough or is this just how the Bosch is?

[ERASMO]

I use the universal plus and it seems to work best on large batches.  What was the total amount of flour you had in the mixer? Check out my video.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTkz44T9ge4" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTkz44T9ge4</a>

[Pizza_Not_War]

Four pounds of dough is about my normal use of the Bosch. Sometimes I do more and have had the dough ride up the middle as you describe. With the cover in place I don't do anything to correct the rise. Liquid goes in first with the Bosch and I mix on low speed for 4 minutes and I am done. I am usually doing 62% hydration, but a wetter dough works equally well for me.

Are you doing that long Autolyse?

It works for me every time and I really like the mixer - with my KA I would be pulling my hair (remaining bits) out of my head all the time.

The only mixing negative I have had is with very small quantities of dough or cake recipes that the Bosch won't deal with.

PNW

[BurntEdges]

ERASMO,

Here's the list of ingredients in the finished dough:

Flour (100%): Water (68.7%): * IDY (.365%): Salt (1.396%): Total (170.461%):

1033 g  |  36.44 oz | 2.28 lbs 709.67 g  |  25.03 oz | 1.56 lbs 3.77 g | 0.13 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.25 tsp | 0.42 tbsp 14.42 g | 0.51 oz | 0.03 lbs | 3 tsp | 1 tbsp 1760.87 g | 62.11 oz | 3.88 lbs | TF = N/A

* My yeast amount is reduced from the recipe in the original post because I do a 5 to 7 day cold ferment.

P_N_W,

Yes, I do the 12 hour refrigerated autolyse and really like the result.

The only mixing negative I have had is with very small quantities of dough or cake recipes that the Bosch won't deal with.

What's a very small quantity - will it do a 1 pound batch?   &  What happens, how will the Bosch not deal with it? 

Thanks.

[Pizza_Not_War]

P_N_W,

Yes, I do the 12 hour refrigerated autolyse and really like the result.

What's a very small quantity - will it do a 1 pound batch?   &  What happens, how will the Bosch not deal with it? 

Thanks.

I am referring more to situations when you have to whip eggs & sugar then add a cup of flour using the beaters not the dough tool. The bowl is too big and the stuff just gets pushed around rather than properly mixed. Sugar & butter tends to get thrown towards the higher center point of the bowl and just sits unless you scrape it back down. I have not tried to do small dough batches as I have no need for those quantities.

Try doing your dough 4lb batch with only a 20 minute autolyse and see if that fixes your issues. Your dough formulation is very close to mine, except I use twice the salt.

PNW