Kneading Bread Dough in the Food Processor

Google this and you'll find all sorts of links, but the most important one -- based on Charles Van Over's recipe from his book Best Bread Ever -- has just been deleted. It's important because it describes the process very thoroughly.

When I sold my house last December and decided to move a thousand miles away, I got rid of all my aging appliances and my big KitchenAid mixer was one of them. (Talk about something keeping its value -- I advertised it for $250 and my inbox immediately filled with buyers!)

Before springing for a new one, I thought I'd try to make all my breads without it. First I wanted to try kneading in the food processor. The ciabatta is going to be my first experiment.

Meanwhile, to perfect the technique I made a loaf of the Van Over bread. I followed the recipe exactly. I won't publish it here -- I suspect the publisher complained about copyright infringement --, but I did order the book and even though it's out of print you can get a used copy very cheaply, or your Library may have it.

It's a very simple recipe, makes a decent bread with a nice open texture in spite of a mere 45 seconds of kneading. Here is my loaf:

I shaped it in my oval banneton.

It looks good but flavour-wise, I would certainly not describe it as the "best bread ever" as it lack the depth that I am accustomed to in my white breads. A sort of slightly sour taste, like a mild sourdough.

Also it didn't keep very well; it dried very quickly in spite of being stored in plastic.

But I'm still glad I ordered the book because there are other recipes in there that I might want to play with.

As for the ciabatta, the starter is bubbling nicely as I write this, and tomorrow I'll let you know how it worked out. (I read somewhere that you can't knead wet doughs in the food processor so it's finger crossed until the AM!)

I'm already dreaming of what I will do with the price of the KitchenAid mixer I won't have to buy...