Kneading

Wash your hands. Unless specifically instructed, turn your dough onto a work surface that is clean, not floured, and at or slightly below waist height. It’s worth stating this again emphatically—the dough should be placed onto a work surface that hasn’t been floured. All of the recipes are written with the proper weight of flour to make great-tasting bread. Placing flour on the work surface will alter the recipe some and actually prevent you from achieving the maximum flavor. Place your mass of dough about 3 to 4 in [7.5 to 10 cm] from the edge of the work surface. Hold a plastic scraper in one hand and, with the heel of the other hand, press firmly into the mass of dough and stretch it several inches in front of you. With your bare hand or the plastic scraper, fold the dough farthest from you back toward you, over the top of the dough. Rotate the mass 90 degrees and repeat. This stretching and folding technique is what will help align the gluten network in your dough. We suggest putting one foot in front of the other so you are in a comfortable position, and find a gentle rhythm to press the dough out in front of you, fold it over, rotate, and repeat. If the dough is sticky, use the plastic scraper to clean the dough from the work surface as well as off your hands.