Basics and Techniques: Knocking Back the Dough

It serves a few purposes. It redistributes the temperature and the yeast’s (natural or not) food supply and it activates the gluten strands again after they have relaxed. Knocking back the dough also allows the gas that has built up during the proving period to escape before it breaks the structure of the dough, which in turn allows the dough to develop further and become stronger. The knock back is usually done midway through the bulk prove (the first stage of proving), sometimes more than once. After the dough has been knocked back you will almost always need to continue to prove the dough for a further one hour.