Should I Add Flour When Kneading Bread Dough?

I know a lot of home bakers reach for the flour just before you start kneading. It’s habitual, natural and often instructed. But is it right to do so? Well, if you are wondering if you should add flour when kneading bread dough, let me help you out with the answer and also give some tips on kneading sticky dough!

Is flouring the kneading surface recommended?

There should be no reason to add flour to the work surface when kneading bread dough. Yes, I know many old recipes say to do this, but this is an “old wives’ tale”. Flouring the kneading surface will actually negatively impact the dough. The clumps of flour that enter the dough will weaken the gluten structure. It will have an irregular crumb with dense and light textures. The only case for adding more flour when kneading is if the dough is exceptionally wet and sticky.

How much additional flour should be used when kneading?

If your dough is too sticky, the best solution is to leave it to firm up during the first rise. If it’s too wet for this, you can add some flour, start off with two tablespoons and mix in slowly. Then add flour, one tablespoon at a time, until the right consistency is reached. Aim to do this within the first 2 minutes of kneading.

Why shouldn’t I add flour when kneading bread dough?

Well, the real question is, why should you add flour when kneading? If you do add flour, the additional flour on the work surface will be absorbed into the dough. This effectively tops up the flour in the recipe without it being weighed. Raw, undeveloped flour, added during kneading, remains unprocessed. This leaves a dry and bitter taste in the mouth after baking. It also tends to look grey and unpleasant.

If you have added too much flour to the dough, a stiff dough is created. Bread made this way often turns out dry and crumbly.

How to prevent adding flour when kneading

The best way to prevent adding flour is to a) don’t do it, and b) measure the ingredients accurately using scales so that it doesn’t turn out overly sticky. There are also a few tips you can use to make working with wet dough easier. Take a look:

• Drizzle and rub a teaspoon of olive oil to the surface before kneading. This “oil slick” forms a barrier between the dough and the surface to prevent them from sticking.
• Wet your hands. Similar to how oil adds a layer of protection between the table and the dough, wet hands prevent the dough from sticking to your hands which makes it easier to knead.
• Use a dough scraper to bring a wet dough back into a mass.
• Gently knead the dough at first to hydrate the flour and encourage the gluten to extend. You can see many hand-kneading techniques on that page.
• Leave the dough in the mixing bowl for 5-10 minutes, ideally in the refrigerator. On your return, you will notice that the dough is firmer and much easier to knead.
• When handling a wet dough, be fast and meaningful when handling the dough. This way you won’t need to add any more flour.
• Dough becomes sticky and hard to knead when it is warm. This is partly due to the temperature and partly due to the yeast respiring to produce water. In warm weather, it is especially important to keep the dough cool. When it is really hot, you should consider adding ice to cold water to drop the temperature further. Please don’t add ice cubes directly to the mixing bowl as this can break your mixing paddle! If this is your problem, see my detailed guide on desired dough temperature.

How to tell when dough is kneaded enough

When the dough is ready for the next stage, be it bulk fermentation or straight to shaping, it should be tested using the windowpane test. This shows how well the dough has been developed. If the dough can be stretched so thinly that light can pass, it passes the test.

Conclusion

There are many “rules” in bread baking, and whilst it’s possible to break ones similar to “don’t add flour when kneading” whilst still making good bread, it makes it harder. If you really need to rescue a sticky mess, add some flour and do it ASAP. Just don’t add it because you can. You’re better off holding back on some of the water (5%) from the mixing bowl and only adding it if required.

Ending thoughts

I hope that you have found this post useful. If so, let me know what you will do differently next time you make bread in the comments below. Also, if you want a quick-start guide on kneading basics, see the how to knead dough post.