I recently bought some baking gloves (to wear when kneading) and loved them. Unfortunately, “one size fits all” did not include people with normal-sized hands, and they’re not really that usable. I tried to read up on them, but I can’t figure out where to order some that might work. There are a lot of cut-resistant and heat-resistant food-handling gloves out there, but I don’t need those. I need the kind you can knead with. Do any bakers here know how I can narrow my search?
I’ve always just used nitrile gloves (such as for medical use), since I already keep them in the kitchen for working with raw meat and fish.
As an ex-pastry chef, I’ve never seen anyone use kneading gloves. Do they have some advantage over something like nitrile gloves?
What is a “kneading glove”? Why is it better than bare hands? Or nitrile gloves?
I do all my cooking bare-handed, except when handling very hot items, or when cooking for my temple’s meals-on-wheels program, where i aim for a much higher level of for safety than i do at home. And even then, i usually avoid gloves when handling items that will be cooked.
This is one of the exact things that I don’t know. The ones I got didn’t say anything about nitrile, and when I tried to look into it, nitrile seems to have so many uses that I wasn’t sure whether it was ideal for kneading, would work but not as well as bare hands, or what.
As to why gloves: hairy fingers. Dough gets stuck in hair, hair gets stuck in dough.
Hey, Bigfoot(
). Why not just use latex gloves. Many kinds, sizes. Fit…well, like a glove. Tight to the skin.
Put them on. Rinse them well. Dry just like you would your hands. Knead on.
So the ones I use are just basic medical-type nitrile gloves, which come in all sizes. I like them better than food-service gloves because they don’t slip off.
I’d never heard of gloves specifically for kneading dough, so I just had to Google and found these:
Sounds like they are reusable, which is nice, but yes, only one size.
So if those won’t do, sounds like the nitrile is the way to go.
Latex is stinky, that’s why. (And some people are allergic.) If I do any tasks that require wearing latex gloves, I am grossed out for the rest of the day by the smell it leaves behind on my skin.
Yep. Nitrile or food service gloves, if gloves must be worn.
Ah. Not a problem i have. Nitrile gloves should work fine, then. I’ve done lots of cooking in them, and it’s but as nice as using my bare hands, but everything works.
Those are the ones I bought. I could barely get them on my hands. The feel of them was gread, and they way they worked with dough was perfect, but the “one size” is, I suspect, designed for women, who tend to have smaller hands than I do.
Are these gloves nitrile? If so, that’s an easy fix: that’s what I want. The package had no more information than the webpage. Maybe I’ll try to write the company. In the meantime, though, it sounds like nitrile (which is easy to find) is what I want. Thanks, all!
They are not nitrile gloves. They are acrylic, which is a kind of fabric. Nitrile is close-fitting, smooth, flexible plastic.
Ah. So what I want is food-safe acrylic, then. Thank you.
You could always shave your fingers.
Or start by rubbing oil on them, maybe even slicking down the hair with some olive oil or whatever oil is in the bread.
That’s not going to keep any hairs from falling into the dough, which is what it seems he’s trying to avoid by wearing the gloves.
I worked in a kitchen with a guy who cringed every time he saw a cook with very hairy arms.
That is it, but it’s also that getting the dough out of hair is annoying and difficult, the fingers in particular. Fortunately, the palms are hair-free.
Gloves aren’t going to prevent arm hair from getting into the food. Washing your arms just before cooking (and this rubbing off any loose hairs) should help a lot, though.
The gloves that @romansperson linked to were white cotton ones specifically labeled for kneading dough. If those particular ones were too small, you might just look for cotton gloves for kitchen use. I just did so and found various listings, such as ones for use while barbecuing.
I always have a box of XL Nitrile gloves on hand. 
They work well in the kitchen, as well as in the garage.