Stirring Dough with a Dough Hook

The dough hook attachment to our winning KitchenAid Pro Line Series 7 Quart Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer makes kneading dough easy and effortless—except sometimes when we're initially mixing the wet and dry ingredients. Often a layer of flour on the very bottom of the bowl just sits there while the loose mixture of flour and liquids above it is too thin to get caught on the dough hook and simply sloshes around. For this reason, some recipes recommend using the paddle attachment to start mixing and then switching to the dough hook once a rough dough is formed. You can also simply stir the ingredients with a spatula or other tool first. Or you can save on cleanup and do what we often do: Use the dough hook itself to stir the ingredients manually.

After placing your wet and dry ingredients in the mixer bowl, hold the top of the dough hook in your hand and simply drag it down the sides and along the bottom of the bowl. Continue to scrape the sides and bottom, turning the bowl, until the components are mixed and the dough just starts to come together. Now you can place the bowl on the stand mixer, insert the dough hook into the mixer, and knead away.