Homemade bread has lots of benefits; first of all, it tastes way better than the bread you buy from the market. Apart from that, the market-bought ones are expensive and contain preservatives which are not good for health.

If you are fond of baking and making bread at your home, you need an electric mixer (hand mixer or stand mixer) to reduce time and effort. Most recipes require a stand mixer to mix the bread dough. But they are pretty costly kitchen appliances. For, this reason, you may wonder-

Can you make bread with your hand mixer?

Yes you can. With this guide, you can prepare bread dough with a hand mixer. So, buckle up to know the best way to make bread with a hand mixer!

The kneading process for bread dough

The term “kneading” refers to the process used in bread and cake making. Flour and other ingredients get mixed and squeezed by hand to make the bread dough airy, light, and chewy. It may be a simple process, but the bread quality will depend on how well the dough has been kneaded.

The kneading process involves steps like pushing the bread dough away, folding it, and pulling it back. Generally, to complete the bread kneading process, you have to work with your palms to push and pull the bread and your fingers to fold it.

The repeated push-pull technique is necessary because otherwise, the bread will not have a strongly developed gluten net, eventually making the bread tough and flat.

Proper kneading can make the bread fluffy and tasty because all the ingredients get mixed and distributed evenly, and the air gets incorporated perfectly.

Can You Knead Dough With A Hand Mixer To Make Bread?

Yes, you can knead the bread dough with a hand mixer. Hand kneading is a delightful process, but it can be troublesome too.

Not only do you get messy hands, but you also need to add a lot of pressure with your arms for nearly about 25-30 minutes. Apart from that, it has been observed that home cooks often put extra flour in the mixture, disturbing the original texture of the bread.

If you have the best hand mixer at your home, then you don’t have to do all the challenging tasks with your hand. Although the hand mixer may be small and might take more time (compared with a stand mixer) to knead the dough, you can still get your work done.

However, you need to be extra cautious when you use a hand mixer; you need to be careful about a few things like-

Ensure to run the mixture through the bowl center and on the edges to get all the ingredients mixed up perfectly. Otherwise, you have to keep a spatula handy to push the ingredients from the edges to the center.
You can hold the bowl in one hand and the hand mixer in the other hand to make the process easier for you. If you have to keep mixing ingredients, you can rest the bowl onto a damp towel to hold it steady.
A hand mixer is a portable small kitchen appliance. So, you cannot mix many things at a time with your hand mixer and expect it to work fine. That’s why, when you are thinking about kneading bread dough, you need to know the limit of your hand mixer at first.
Hand mixers do not have the same power as stand mixers; that’s why, in the case of thick dough, the hand mixers can struggle or even burn the dough. So, if you are looking for consistent and effective kneading, you can try mixing the dough with a wooden spoon at first and then go for the hand mixer.

How To Make Bread Dough With Hand Mixer?

To make bread dough with a hand mixer, you first need to get a hand mixer that has got the power to mix the dough. You have to search for a hand mixer that comes with a powerful motor and dough hook– that’s it. If you find such a product, then you can knead your bread anytime with the same.

Required Tool

– A hand mixer

Things Needed

– White flour
– Salt
– Sugar
– Eggs
– Yeast
– Oil
– Water

step by step making of bread dough with hand mixer

Arrange all ingredients

At first, you have to gather all the ingredients like 500 g white flour, 1 tsp salt, sugar, 2 eggs, yeast, oil (olive oil or any vegetable oil), and 300-350 ml lukewarm water to make one pound of bread. You can adjust the ingredients as per the quantity of the bread you will be making.

Mix the ingredients

Next, take a bowl and add sugar, flour, salt, eggs, and yeast into it. It is recommended to add salt and yeast to opposite corners of the bowl as the direct link of salt can kill the yeast. After putting everything into the bowl, you have to add enough water to get a soft dough.

Knead the mixture with hand mixer

Now, attach the dough hooks with your hand mixer, start it by setting it low speed, and mix the ingredients you have added into the bowl. The process will not take 8-10 minutes to form an elastic and soft bread dough. Now, your bread dough is ready for baking in the a bread maker at your home.

Learn More: Best Bread Makers for Making Bread

Best Alternative to Hand Mixer For Making Bread Dough

A stand mixer is the ideal alternative to a hand mixer when making bread dough. The best stand mixer is a powerful tool that can make the bread-making process hands-free and mess-free.

If you ever give a stand mixer a try, you can see how easily, efficiently, and quickly it prepares a bread dough for you. Apart from preparing bread dough, you can also do plenty of other things with a stand mixer like preparing cake or cookie batter, making frosting, whipping cream or egg yolks, and mixing other ingredients for different recipes.

Here is why a stand mixer is worthy to make bread dough-

All of the ingredients required to make the food item can be mixed in a really short amount of time. For instance, you can prepare bread dough within 6-7 minutes using a stand mixer.
Stand mixers are famous for distributing and making the dough or batter smooth airy without any lump.
With a stand mixer, you will face no such problem as you might face with a hand mixer. A hand mixer cannot mix many ingredients at a time, whereas stand mixers can. So, if you want to prepare a large batch of bread or other items, you can do it.
Stand mixers come with different attachments like dough, paddle, and whip attachments. To make bread dough, you have to use the dough attachment. On the other hand, you need to use paddle ones for thinner batter and whip attachments for other batters or while you try to whip eggs.
You can blindly rely on a good quality stand mixer’s performance or power and cake prepare your mixture anytime you want.

Making bread with hand mixer – the verdict

The primary purpose is to make homemade bread and stay healthy by not consuming the preservatives. Kneading the dough with hands may be satisfying, but not everyone can do it as it requires a lot of strength in the forearm to prepare a soft, airy, and elastic bread dough. For the same reason, companies have come up with efficient kitchen appliances that make everyone’s life easy.

Now, you can either use a stand mixer or a hand mixer for kneading your bread. However, not everyone has the budget or kitchen space for a stand mixer; that’s why a hand mixer that comes with dough hooks and a powerful motor is always preferable.

Keep in mind that you can never go wrong when you follow all the rules and regulations to make bread dough with your hand mixer. Making bread with hand mixer can be a little tedious compared to stand mixer. Just make small batches so that the hand mixer can work more efficiently and quickly without creating any mess. This way, you can easily make soft milk bread, sandwich bread, ciabatta, artisan, and focaccia bread and surprise your near and dear ones. That’s it, happy baking!

Can You Make Bread With A Hand Mixer?