Kneading Dough

Kneading dough is one of the most important stages when making Bread. It can be done in a food processor or by hand, which takes a bit more elbow grease. I'd suggest a minimum of 5 minutes kneading by hand (but probably more like 10) is required for a standard bread dough. 

There's no right or wrong way as such, but the important thing is the dough needs to be worked and stretched to combine all the ingredients and stretch the gluten in the flour making the dough more elastic. Doing it right means you'll get a better texture and structure to your bread.

Here's a video showing my method.

As you can see I use the palm of my hand to push the dough and stretch it, and then pull it back. Just give it a try and find a way that is comfortable for you.

After around 10 minutes the dough should be uniform and the texture should be soft, elastic and springy. That's it! The dough is then ready to prove.