Day 3 – Countdown to Christmas 2014 Overmixing Doughs and Batters

It’s time for Tuesday’s Tip with The Kitchen Whisperer.  I’ve been doing this on Facebook for lord knows how long.  I started doing it every Tuesday for Countdown to Christmas 2014.  Right now you’re probably making a mad dash to get your last few batches of cookies, sweet breads, nut rolls and baked goods done, packaged and ready for Santa.  The worst thing you can do is rush in making them.

So what’s the big deal TKW?  Why can’t I just put the stuff in the mixer, go throw a load of laundry in, fold the towels, take the dog out and make the bed all while the dough is mixing? In regular flour, over-mixing the flour activates the gluten, a protein that can give baked goods a firm and elastic structure. So like when you bite into an awesome chewy pizza crust how the dough sort of tears and springs back?  Yeah… you can thank the gluten for that.  It’s amazingly delicious in a chewy pizza crust but would like that same chewiness say in a pastry?  Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Have your cookies ever turned out hard and dry or even crumbled?  Yeah, over mixing your dough did that.  Sucks, huh?

So what should you do?  First, treat the ingredients with respect.  The better care you take of them, the better the outcome and the happier you and everyone will be.

♥ For tender cakes and flaky pie crusts, go slow and gentle for tender.
♥ When adding dry ingredients to cookie and cake batters, use the lowest speed on an electric mixer or mix by hand until just combined. A few lumps in the batter are fine.
♥ For a pie crust, whether you use a food processor or mix by hand, work the dough as little as possible. Visible bits of butter and streaks of flour are desirable.

Check out the rest of the Countdown to Christmas 2014 recipes, tips and tricks!