Failure to launch

March 13, 2008 1:10 PM

Help, my dough didn't rise!

I'm using the good ol' Joy of Cooking White bread recipe, and I'm reasonably certain I followed the directions to the letter, but my dough didn't get all smooth and bubbly when I kneaded it, and then it didn't rise at all, not even a little! Where did I go wrong, O clever MeFites, and can I salvage this?

posted by knystress to food & drink (24 comments total)

Probably not. Probably better to start over.

It needs to sit in a warm place in order to rise. Where did you put yours?

Also, go buy new yeast. The yeast you have may not be any good.
posted by Class Goat at 1:12 PM on March 13, 2008

Is your yeast past its expiration date?

Did you perhaps use water that was too hot (above 110 degrees F)? Too-hot water will inhibit the yeast from acting properly.

Is the room on the colder side? You usually rise at low temps if you want the rising to take a long time (it boosts flavor).
posted by DrGirlfriend at 1:16 PM on March 13, 2008

I believe there are instructions in the Joy telling one how to test yeast. Follow those first and then you can worry about other factors if the yeast still works.
posted by ssg at 1:17 PM on March 13, 2008

The yeast needs to be in a particular temperature range to do its thing; you can kill them by getting them too hot, and they just won't be active if they're cold. That's the most likely culprit.
posted by Wolfdog at 1:17 PM on March 13, 2008

Did you use salt? Too much salt can kill the yeast.
posted by hal_c_on at 1:18 PM on March 13, 2008

As others have said, this is most likely a problem of yeast viability. Either the yeast were dead or you killed them with too hot water. If it's very cold in the room, they might be sluggish, but you would likely see some rise.

If you are unsure of your yeast you can proof it, which means to dissolve a little bit (1/4 tsp) of sugar in the water you use to dissolve the yeast, and wait until you see a creamy shallow foam on the top (just a few minutes) before adding it to your bread.
posted by OmieWise at 1:19 PM on March 13, 2008

I put it near a baseboard heater, which is also near the window... Maybe the window sucked more heat than the heater put in?

Phooey, my foray into the world of breadmaking is not going according to plan. Thanks though!
posted by knystress at 1:19 PM on March 13, 2008

You can't salvage this batch. Yeast often goes bad, judging by my own experience. I agree with Class Goat: buy new yeast and try again.

Before you put your ingredients together, mix the yeast with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1/4 c warm water, about 105-110 degrees F. If the yeast is good, in a few minutes you'll see it starting to foam. This is called proofing the yeast. If there's no foam, you need new yeast.
posted by wryly at 1:21 PM on March 13, 2008

If it rose even a little, give it a quick fold-and-reshape and put it somewhere warm to rise some more. I have that problem with old yeast sometimes; it still makes perfectly good bread, it's just slow to get going.

If it doesn't look like it rose at all then something more fundamental's probably wrong. Dead yeast, or you killed it somehow. IIRC the Joy recipe starts with blanching the milk; maybe you killed the yeast by combining it with too-warm liquid?
posted by hattifattener at 1:22 PM on March 13, 2008

Also, it's Fleischmann's yeast that I bought today. Should be good until 2009.
posted by knystress at 1:22 PM on March 13, 2008

Er, scalding the milk that is. Silly cooking terminology. Anyway, on lack-of-preview, what everyone else said.
posted by hattifattener at 1:25 PM on March 13, 2008

You should probably buy new yeast -- it sounds like yours is no good.

If you want to really reassure yourself that it's not going to rise, you might try putting some plastic wrap over the bowl and putting it in the fridge for 12-14 hours. See if it's risen at all by tomorrow. However, if it's already been sitting out in a warm place for hours, this probably won't do anything at all.

If you want to make the best of this batch, you could cook the dough as though it were an unleavened flatbread. See, for instance, this Lavash recipe. Just roll it out thin and flat, top it with an egg wash, coarse salt, and any seedy/spicy things you like, and bake until crispy in a 400 degree oven. It may not be the perfect cracker, but I think it'll still be tasty. For best results, eat it with some hummus.
posted by ourobouros at 1:25 PM on March 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

ourobouros, what a great idea. I screw up bread dough often enough that this will save me...well, pennies, since I buy my breadmaking ingredients in bulk, but it's the principle of the thing.
posted by padraigin at 1:38 PM on March 13, 2008

A quick test if you still have the dough: pull off just a little pinch (the size of a big marble), roll it into a ball and drop it into a bowl of warm (but not hot) water.

If the ball hasn't risen to the top in five minutes or so, you have a yeast problem: dead, not enough, or you forgot to add it.

If it does rise to the top, your yeast was fine and your problem was either that everything was too cold and/or you weren't patient enough.
posted by quarterframer at 1:46 PM on March 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Okay, you all win. I totally killed my yeast with too-hot milk.

I'm trying again and my yeasy is all poofy, so I guess I know for sure that I killed it. I'm a mur-diddly-urdler!
posted by knystress at 1:48 PM on March 13, 2008

(and by yeasy, of course, I mean yeast.)
posted by knystress at 1:49 PM on March 13, 2008

The recipe I use calls for 3/4 c of water to dissolve the yeast. I find the quickest way to get a good temperature without measuring with a thermometer is to run my sink until it is as hot as it gets. Measure 2 1/4 c measures of the hot water and put it into the bowl, then turn the tap to all cold, and add 1/4 c of cold water. The result = luke warm.
posted by Doohickie at 1:54 PM on March 13, 2008

I always measure the temp of the water/milk with an instant read thermometer. (I admit to being a little obsessive when it comes to exact measurements and temps--maybe the scientist in me?) I also warm up my bowls in the oven a bit to take the chill out of them. The Joy of Cooking is my all time favorite cookbook. I hope your bread comes out the second time. Let us know. :)
posted by GlowWyrm at 2:18 PM on March 13, 2008

Here's my favorite tip for making bread/pizza dough.

Mix the sugar, water, and yeast all at once. Give it 5 min or so and make sure it gets frothy/creamy. If it doesn't get creamy you're either too hot or too cold (usually if I've had problems it's because my mixture is too cold). I put the bowl in the sink, close the drain and run hot water around the mixture. In the sink, not in the bowl, it heats the bowl and contents. It has worked so far on every loaf of bread/pizza dough I've made.

The one I had too hot I doubled the mixture using colder water for the second half, that worked as well.
posted by TheDukeofLancaster at 2:58 PM on March 13, 2008

As to where you leave it to let it rise, I don't think you need to put it next to your baseboard heater. That might be too hot, or it could be too cold, and it's certain to be too difficult to control. Just sitting on the counter in the kitchen should be fine, unless you've got your room temperature set down to shivering-while-wearing-a-sweater level.
posted by Class Goat at 3:03 PM on March 13, 2008

I find the quickest way to get a good temperature without measuring with a thermometer is to run my sink until it is as hot as it gets.

You use hot tap water, Doohickie? That's not very healthy. I microwave mine and use an instaread thermometer to spot when it drops down to the 110°F mark.

I find a good place for dough to rise is in my oven, turned off but with the light on. The light acts as a mild heat lamp, and being closed in the oven keeps the drafts (of which I have many) at bay.
posted by mumkin at 3:07 PM on March 13, 2008

I'm with Class Goat on the rising part - it may have been too drafty. If you don't have a warm, draft-less area to let your dough rise, you can always put it in the oven. Put your loaves of dough on the upper shelf and a pan of hot water on the lower shelf. Don't turn on the heat and close the door. You don't even have to put a floured cloth over the loaves either, just leave them bare. Wait for an hour (or until your dough rises), take out your loaves and the pan of now-cool water and turn your oven on. Once the oven pre-heats, stick your loaves back in and you're ready to bake.
posted by KathyK at 6:19 AM on March 14, 2008

So anyway, turns out my bread skills are just plain fail. Attempt number two yielded the same results, so I'm just going to stick to cookies.
posted by knystress at 12:13 PM on March 14, 2008

knystress, before you give up, you might want to try No-Knead bread. It's super-easy, very forgiving, and it's made with cool water, so there's no way of killing the yeast with the hot milk. Good luck!
posted by ourobouros at 1:38 PM on March 14, 2008