Paul Hollywood's Top Tip To Avoid Sticky Hands While Kneading Dough

British chef and TV personality Paul Hollywood is famous for his exacting standards and expert advice, especially when it comes to baking. Whether he's helping you crisp up your soggy bottom or make the best pizza dough, Hollywood is full of tips to transform you into a master baker. 

One of his most surprising tips has to do with "sticky-hand syndrome." This phenomenon occurs when you're trying to work a very sticky dough (think cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, or yeasted bread) but you're losing half your materials to your suddenly very adhesive hands. No matter what dough, crust, or pastry you're preparing, Hollywood has one helpful tip to make your sticky prepping more pleasant: By using oil instead of flour as a buffer when kneading, you can avoid the dreaded "sticky-hand syndrome" without drastically changing your dough's consistency. Like flouring your work surface, the oil creates a barrier between the dough and your skin, giving it something else to attach to instead of your hands.

If you're an infrequent baker, you're probably still familiar with the practice of dusting your hands, work surface, and rolling pin with flour to combat stickiness. If you are a frequent baker, then you also know that adding too much flour will radically change the taste and texture of your dough. But won't oil have the same problematic effect, if not more so? According to Paul Hollywood, oil is the safer bet as it won't change the consistency of your dough. Plus, if your dough is going to rise in the refrigerator, a light coating of oil all around the dough will prevent a tough crust from forming.

Still, you shouldn't completely douse your dough in oil since too much of any ingredient will change what you're creating. If you're worried about accidentally introducing too much oil into your mixture, try lightly oiling only your hands but rolling out your dough on a floured surface as usual. That way you won't lose any time scraping the dough off your fingers (though, if you have some scraping to do, a lightly floured or oiled bench scraper works wonders). Last but not least, if your tried-and-true dough recipe seems stickier than usual, it might just need a bit more time to rest. Once your dough is ready to go, try Hollywood's tip to see if oil saves you from any sticky stress.