I'm curious about use of the stand mixer. In the pics on blog, I see the beater bar is used to mix doughs, then dough hook is used to knead. Further, here for example, it says to knead at medium speed. I have a Kitchen Aid 6 quart bowl-lift mixer with the heavier 575w power. Manual says to always use dough hook for both mixing and kneading, and to never use higher than speed 2, to do otherwise is to risk equipment failure. Using the dough hook to do the mixing has been less than satisfactory. And speed 2 is slow. So I guess at KAF you're using professional mixers rather than the kind of stand mixer home users might have? I'm trying to learn to make bread, and not doing that well at it. I do want to use mixer for kneading as little strength in fingers and hands. I'm wondering how to translate your medium speed kneading for about 7 minutes into time for my mixer at speed 2! Even 7 minutes sounds like a lot to my green ears. Surely I wouldn't knead for 14 minutes. LOL. Sure are a lot of obstacles, even when using recipes by folks trying to help. :-) We have found that gathering the dough into the shaggy ball with the paddle attachment works well. Switching to the dough hook to knead on the second speed for 5 minutes does a fine job developing the gluten. Be careful, because you can easily overknead dough with the mixer. As always, give us a call at the Baker's Hotline if you have more questions. Molly @ KAF Hi - I ramp my KitchenAid up to one notch above speed 2 - I find speed 2 just too slow. Yes, I'm risking "damage" to the machine, but I'll take that risk - it only has a 1-year warranty anyway. I knead for 7 minutes, generally. And I would never mix with the dough hook; it would take forever. I mix with the beater, then switch to the dough hook. So, that's what I do... If you choose to stick with speed 2 (and that would be what to do if you're worried about voiding your warranty), then you may need to knead longer. You want to knead not so much by time, but by what the dough feels and looks like. Generally, a fully kneaded dough will be smooth, supple, and elastic. Good luck as you learn - you can do this! PJH

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