Making Bread in Your Food Processor

I love doing extra-fast food processor yeast breads and rolls, and want to share with you some ideas for bread making from the Cuisinart’s newsletters
  • You can make yeast dough in any full-size Cuisinart food processor.  In the compact models, you can knead dough for a 15” pizza crust.           
  • Use the dough blade when following a recipe that calls for more than 3 ½ cups (17 ½ oz.) of all-purpose or bread flour.  The plastic blade thoroughly kneads yeast dough using over 3 ½ cups of flour.
  • Use the metal blade when using a bread recipe that calls for less than 3 ½ cups of flour.      
  • Weighed flour with salt, sugar, yeast and butter added
  • The standard ratio of flour to water is 1 cup flour to 1/3 cup water in a basic white bread recipe.  Adding eggs or other liquids alters that ratio.       
  • When I measure in my dry ingredients on top of my weighed flour, I space them around the top of the processor, so I can keep track of how many measuring spoonful’s I’ve added.  For consistently good results, weigh the flour.  Also, weighing flour is faster than using the “scoop and sweep” method.  
  • If you use dry measuring cups for flour, for these recipes, stir the flour first to aerate it.  Scoop up a heaping cupful and sweep across the top with a knife to level the flour.
  • If recipes are written for the “scoop and sweep method”, they give these weight comparisons.
  • Per Cup
    Weight
    All-purpose flour
    5 ounces
    Bread flour
    5 ounces
    Whole wheat flour
    4 ounces
    Rye, light
    3 ½ ounces
    Rye, medium
    3 ounces
    Rye, dark
    4 ½ ounces

  • Dough cleaning the sides of the workbowl
  • The processor mixes and kneads your dough so fast that a stopwatch is useful to get your timing right.  When we’re talking seconds – it works better than a timer.
  • Use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature of the liquids you add to your yeast dough.
  • When adding liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients in the work bowl, add them while the machine is running, in a slow, steady stream, only as fast as the flour absorbs it.
  • How do you know if you have the right balance of flour to water?  The dough will mass into a ball and virtually clean the sides of the work bowl.  When this happens, the dough is not too dry or too wet.
  • Risen dough ready to shape
  • Typical bread dough, when properly kneaded, should have a soft, pliable texture.  If it feels tough, process until it is properly kneaded, about 30 seconds longer.
  • I let it dough rise right in the covered work bowl to save time and cleanup.  After the first rise, shape the dough as you wish.
  • Check the book that came with your food processor to see if your machine is large enough for your recipe.  The recipes we will be giving are for a standard or Classic size processor, and will work fine in a larger one too.
  • If you don't have a food processor, all of the bread or roll recipes next week can be made on the dough cycle of a bread machine and then shaped for the last rise, or in your stand mixer or by hand, for that matter.   I have made them by all of those methods, depending on the equipment I have had access to.
  • My personal favorite for a bread food processor is the plain Jane 14 cup Cuisinart; I have gone back to one after trying the more deluxe model that just didn't cut it for me.
  • I'm a firm believer that the best bread is made in a kitchen where bread is made often - where a little natural yeast spores are in the air from regular bread making.  These food-processor breads are so quick and easy you'll wonder why you would ever buy bread. 
  • Try some of our recipes for yeast bread and rolls made in the food processor here.

11 comments:

  1. I thought this was such an interesting as well as informative post!! Thanks for another great post.

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  2. I am a fan of any tool that helps make preparing fresh homemade food easier and more enjoyable. I am a bosch user myself but look forward to exploring your sire further. Really interesting post.

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  3. I have read before that weighing the flour is better. What do you use to weigh it with? My kitchen scale would be too small I think? Is there a special kind? Thank you

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    1. I use a regular digital kitchen scale - one I've had for years...check out this post on weighing with some standard weights of foods.
      I am really an advocate for weighing ingredients from my time working in food service operations.

      http://iowasue.blogspot.com/2010/03/weighing-ingredients-for-recipes.html

      Here is a good video on weighing food:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BEadsFfr2s&feature=related

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  4. Thank you so much. I'm going to try this on the weekend. I had lost my user's guide, so was pleased to find this information.

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  5. I've tried do many different recipes, and seen do many different temperature ranges for the water (from 70-100oF, to 100-110oF), what is the best temp for water, I'm on the verge of giving up as my bread never looks like in the pics. A good processor is my last chance to try..any help or tips appreciated

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  6. The ideal temperature for yeast according to Fleischmann's is 100°–110°F for Active Dry Yeast and 120°–130°F for RapidRise® and Bread Machine Yeast. I use Instant Yeast from Fleischmann's which is similar to the rapid rise and bread machine yeast. I usually heat my water to 125°, I use an instant-read thermometer to check it.
    There are a lot of reasons for your bread not to look like pictures. Try the recipe on our sidebar for Master Bread Dough or the recipe for Cuisinart White Bread
    When you shape your loaf, be sure it's stretched some around the outside to help it keep its shape. Let it rise about an inch over the top of the pan (this may take a different time than the recipe depending on how warm your room is). Be sure you're using the right size pan. Let your oven preheat at least 20 minutes so you have even heat throughout your baking time. I usually preheat mine while the bread is raising in the pan.
    Hope you don't give up yet! Looks aren't everything if your loaf tastes good.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, we'll try that, we ended up getting easy bake yeast instead

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    2. Well, my understanding is that easy bake yeast is the same as American instant yeasts like we use in our recipes so they should work.

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  7. Are there any tips for cleaning the sticky dough from the processor blade and parts? I found the cleanup took longer than making the bread.

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    Replies
    1. If your dough has the right amount of water it should clean the sides of the work bowl. That said, I use a fairly stiff small rubber scraper from Williams-Sonoma to clean the bowl and blades, adding the scrapings to my dough. Then I put the blade back in the bowl, set it in the sink and fill it with water and let it soak for awhile. If you have a Cuisinart they give you a tool to get into the underside of the blade; I have found that a wood "orange" stick that is sold for manicures works for this too...I keep some in my kitchen drawer for this purpose. Here are the scrapers I am talking about: Mini scrapers

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