the Romans did it, and you can too!

[bedlamsbard]

There is nothing that irritates me more, when it comes to recipes, than people asking if it's possible to make bread or pasta or something of the sort (cinnamon rolls, bagels, that sort of thing) if they don't have a KitchenAid, a food processor, or a bread machine. (That one shows up less often.)

How do you think we have been making bread for the thousands of years before the KitchenAid mixer was invented? YOU KNEAD IT. BY HAND. (Well, you start with a wooden spoon, and then, once all the ingredients are incorporated, you knead it by hand. I haven't made pasta from scratch, but I believe the process is similar.)

The ancient Romans did it and you can too! So did people in the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, and colonists in the Americas! If the pioneers could make bread on the Oregon Trail, then you, a modern independant human (presumably) can make bread in the comfort of your own kitchen! AND YES WITHOUT A STAND MIXER.

(And I actually prefer doing it by hand as opposed to a stand mixer (although I usually do the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day version because I don't have the space in my dorm kitchen), because you have more control over the dough and you develop a much better feel for it. Plus, communing with the ancestors and feeling very accomplished and so on, but that's just me.)

(Western-oriented because I'm not familiar with the food traditions in other countries, but I'm pretty sure the point stands whatever your tradition is.)

Erk. This is why I try not to read the comments on food blogs. (Although I end up doing so anyway, sometimes there are good tips in there.)

Comments

[bedlamsbard]

Most of the time I don't mind when the recipe writer doesn't make allowances for doing something by hand, but I kind of wish they would add multiple options, sometimes -- especially for using a hand-mixer versus a stand mixer, because some things you can do with a stand mixer that you can't with a hand-mixer. (I do have a KitchenAid stand mixer (at home, not at school), and it is lovely and useful, but I don't need it, and sometimes I prefer using a hand-mixer or a wooden spoon just because I have control issues and I don't feel like a stand mixer necessarily offers as much control because it's not as flexible. I don't have a food processor large enough to do anything except make, eh, maybe a half-batch of streusel, that sort of thing. (I think I have a two-cup food processor? Small enough that it doesn't take up much space, and I don't use it often.)

I will admit, I am happiest with the recipe writers that offer options, though. It's just the idiot people in the comments! Agh. Perhaps I am due for another bout of not reading comments.

[(Anonymous)]

Well personnally except for whipping eggs white, we don't use a mixer at home. Cookies are made from scratch (I wouldn't even have the idea to do it another way, that and my sister would probably kill me if I tried, she's really particular on cookies^^). Same thing with pizza dough and in summer when we are at my italian grandmother home we make pasta by hand too. Pretty time-consuming but it tastes better. And recently my mother has decided to mash puree by hand too. Also much tastier than the industrial stuff (even if that is much quicker).

[bedlamsbard]

I have to admit the idea of whipping egg whites or whipped cream by hand kind of freaks me out, although I may try it some time, as I don't have a mixer (hand or stand) at school. I'm not a huge fan of pre-made cookie dough, unless it's for straight eating as is rather than actual cookies -- my high school band used to sell cookie dough as a fund-raiser, and I would just eat it out of the tub. /fond memories