I find it fascinating to watch people who have been trained in something then resist change when the circumstances change.
Case in point: people trained to work in restaurants have a hard time switching to a home situation. It's not impossible, it's not that it can't be done, it's just hard.
I have made bread in less than 2 hours (and, when I'm really organized and attentive, it can be done in less than one and half hours), by paying attention to and following instructions closely. Not blindly, but closely.
The dough kneading blade (which can be plastic or metal, depending on the food processor) is not useless. It's designed to knead dough. Duh.
We need to accept that there are people (like my late mother and some of my friends) who only make any bread when they are super stressed and they *want* to knead the dough, in fact they pound it loud and hard enough that one can tell from outside the home someone is kneading bread.
That being said, we *also* need to accept that there are people like me, who either aren't stressed out to that point, or don't have the strength, or time or just don't care to relieve stress that way. We should be not just allowed, we should be *encouraged* to use the machines to make bread.
Not all bread, but some bread need to be kneaded by hand for over 20 minutes. Those can often be ready in 5 to 10 minutes in a stand mixer. Some particularly effective stand mixers (Bosch Universal, Electrolux Assistent etc) can do it in a bit less than that.
Food processors can usually do it in under 2 minutes. And you are done.
I've seen scores of books, magazines and TV shows (including Cook's Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, and even Julia Child) saying that one processes the dough and then "finishes by hand". Because they were silly enough to use the metal cutting blade, which cuts the gluten they were trying to develop. The same people who said "plastic blades are useless, toss them out".
Look at your processor's dough blade. Some are an "S" blade made with round metal that completely touches the bottom of the bowl (unlike the cutting blade where one blade nearly touches the bowl's bottom, the other is offset a couple of inches up). Some other processors have an offset blade, but much smaller than the cutting blade. There are lots of designs, but they all share one thing in common: they are blunt so they avoid cutting the gluten strands, and they are designed to roll the dough over themselves and around the bowl.
The result is that the dough is usually properly kneaded and *ready* in around a minute. People who like to play with the dough are miffed about it. If you are one of the people who *have* to play with the dough, process it for 40 seconds or so, finish by hand.
Just don't go around telling people who'd love to have bread that the thing is useless, it isn't.
Also, for god's sake, pay attention to the directions for the appliance.
I've used processors where you need to start with water and a bit over half the flour, then you add flour until you reach the proper texture. Cuisinart processors, on the other hand, have a very short stub for driving the tools, so that'd make the thing ooze all over your counter, so instead you start with *all* the dry stuff (flour, sugar, salt, yeast etc), pulse to aerate/mix, then turn on and add the water until the proper consistency is reached, let it knead for a minute or so.
Trying to use the wrong process for the wrong processor is what makes it hard to make bread in the things. The recipe for the bread was written for hand kneading, and that can readily be followed with a good mixer, but the order might have to change with a food processor.
Speaking of silly stuff, I lost count of the number of people who are always pressed for time and complain they can't bake anymore.
For those, quick and easy hint. Stop doing stuff that was designed for 3 centuries ago. Dissolving the yeast in water and sugar and waiting to "proof" is not just a waste of time, all the gas the yeast generated during the "proofing" was sent away into the atmosphere when you start mixing the bread.
First off, yeast costs about a dollar a pound (which is more than most people will use in a year) in places like BJ's and Costco. Get a fresh bag, dump it in a canister that can be sealed, keep it in the fridge or freezer.
Measure the proper amount of yeast and mix it with the amount of flour you are gonna *start* the recipe with (all the flour for processors like Cuisinart, at least half the flour with processors that start with the water). Mix the sugar, yeast and flour and proceed with the recipe.
Now let it rest for 10-15 minutes. It will not be doubled in size, that's OK. Shape the dough in the appropriate way and put it in the pans. Let it rise until it's crowned a bit over the top of the pans and put them in the preheated oven. It will finish to the proper size while it bakes (oven spring). If you wait too long, it will rise too much and fall during baking.
And yeah, please don't rush to write that that will not "develop flavor" and won't work for sour dough. Sour dough has to *sour*, that's why it takes time unless you want to use some vinegar to cheat but it won't be the same. If you are not making sour dough, try this "new" method. I've lost count of how many professionals told me this method wouldn't work and develop flavor and, let me tell you, it's *really* hard not to say "well, you ate half of the loaf made with that very method, imagine if it *had* flavor then?".
Cheers,
-- Paulo.
PS: maybe I'm being unfair here, so in case it makes any difference, I have 2 Cuisinart processors, the 11-cup Prep Plus, which has a "Dough" speed and later, because that one kneads bread so well I got the 20-cup Plus. Maybe the machines that are under 11-cups can't knead well, I don't know. The Braun Multipractic I have can only make one loaf of bread (maximum 500 g of flour, if I remember right, which should be around 3 to 4 cups). The Cuisinart Prep 11 Plus can use 5 cups (~700g), which is 2 loaves of bread, the 20 Plus can use 10 cups (~1,400g), which makes 4 nice loaves at once.
