How to Do It

• When it comes to gently kneading doughs, less is usually more. In the case of pie dough and biscuit dough, work the dough until the ingredients just barely hold together. The dough will feel dry. One way to gently knead biscuit and pie dough is to scrape the ingredients onto a counter, then fold the dough over itself and flatten it out, then fold and flatten it again. You can use the same process to gently knead bread doughs, but the dough will be considerably wetter and stickier.

Avoiding Gluten

• One of the main reasons a recipe would tell you to gently knead, usually for a short period of time, is to avoid the development of gluten. While gluten works wonders for breads, too much of it results in a chewy pie crust or pastry. Along with not over-kneading the dough, the type of ingredients you use keep the pie crust from developing too much gluten. Typically, recipes for pie dough and other doughs that don't want a lot of gluten call for all-purpose flour, which has a lower protein content than bread flours. For some recipes, you can use pastry flour or cake flour to help avoid the development of too much gluten. The high fat content in pie doughs is also designed to keep gluten at bay.

Don't Eliminate It

• Gently kneading pie dough is a balancing act. You don't want too much gluten to develop. You also want to avoid having no gluten develop at all. A pie crust without any gluten will crumble. Part of gently kneading pie dough is working the fat into the dough. If you work the fat in so much that it is completely blended with the flour, no gluten will form. To avoid overworking the dough, use cold fat, such as chilled butter or lard, and let several big pieces of fat remain in the mixed dough.

Doughs to Knead Gently

• Pie dough commonly calls for gentle, barely-there kneading. If you make biscuits from scratch, you also want to gently knead the dough. Work biscuit dough just enough to help the dough stay together. Some bread recipes call for a gentle kneading, too, just enough to get the gluten development started. In these cases, a long resting period helps the gluten form instead of kneading.