October 5, 2009 - 5:08pm
Rookie mistake (and I thought I knew something about baking)
So I was attempting to bake bread but the dough wasn't rising and wasn't rising. Finally I realized my mistake - I used active dry yeast but treating it like instant yeast. Would the following measures be appropriate: 1. Activate a bit of yeast. 2. Roll out the dough and spread the activated yeast all over it. 3. mix it all together. 4. Knead and see if it will rise as normal?
The dough is currently in the refrigerator. I like the Lesson 3 recipe, so that was the one I was making - technically I started it yesterday.
Any and all advice is welcomed with utmost gratitude. I loathe waste so I'd like to salvage this dough in some form or another.
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You should wait for more experienced bakers to weigh in before you try a crazy idea of mine, but...
I wonder if you couldn't salvage this batch by adding water and turning it into a sponge for use in another bread recipe. I'm thinking that extra water might activate the yeast. You'd probably want to use warm water and let it ferment in a warm spot for a bit.
Eric
Given time, the yeast will do its work. See what happens if you let it sit covered on the counter for a while. It might take a few hours, but I would almost guarantee that it will eventually rise.
I would not advise adding more yeast. Eric (above) has the right idea: use the dough in a future recipe. It might take some creativity (i.e. adding water to make a sponge), or you could look for a recipe that calls for a biga starter.
Good luck!
Eric
I agree with this. It should rise, just slower.
Thanks for the input. Dough is so forgiving, I'm sure I can salvage it in this way. :)
I'm not sure what you mean by "Finally I realized my mistake - I used active dry yeast but treating it like instant yeast". The only difference I apply to using ADY or IY is to use about 30 = 50% more ADY in any formula that calls for IY. I proof the ADY sometimes, but I often just add it to the dry ingredients before hydrating the dough; it works fine.
In your experience, the ADY should have provided a reasonable degree of rise for your dough if it was viable to begin with.
See what a rookie I am? I have assumed the bread didn't rise because the ADY wasn't properly proofed. But perhaps it's just that since I used ADY, I should have used a bit more than the recipe called for.
There was very little initial rise, so perhaps the yeast was bad to begin with.
At any rate, I have stored the dough and will try to revive it this weekend as a sponge in another recipe.
Thanks, everyone for your input! Always appreciated. :)
In my past life when there has been a stuff up in the dough room it has been possible to set that dough aside and add a chunk to other dough mixes through out the night in that way no wastage occured which keept the boss happy.
The best way was to have all the ingrediants in small containers so that a check can be done prior to starting the mix and its easy to see if something has been left behind.
It is not easy to incorporate ingrediants if you dont pick it up early as dough can easily be over mixed resulting in a poor bread, even with all the correct ingediants overmixing will result in a poor loaf of bread.
I was taught that there are five reasons for using salt in a dough and i will quote them from my tech notes after i get home this evening,
the first from memory is toughens and strengthens the gluten strands (rest to follow)
regards yozza
As promised on Salt
1. CONTROLS FERMENTATION
2. KEEPS DOWN THE GROWTH OF UNWANTED BACTERIA.
3.TOUGHES AND STRENGTHENS THE GLUTEN STRANDS, GIVING IT A GOOD GAS HOLDING PROPERTY.
4. GIVES LOAF A WHITENESS OF CRUMB AND BETTER CRUST COLOUR.
5. GIVES THE LOAF A TRUE NUTTY FLAVOUR.
There is a passage that says salt toughens and strengthens the guten strands and changes what would become a soft sticky mass of dough with little gas holding strength into a strong pliable good gas holding substance. This seems to be borne out by what mean_jeannie experienced in her dough with out the salt.
From my observation if salt is added late into a mix you will sometimes see darker spots on the crust this usually where the salt has not dissolved into the dough properly.
But I did use salt - I'm not sure where I led you astray. But thanks for the information!
I always use ADY even though recipes call for instant. I use less than prescribed - maybe a teaspoon of ADY when a tablespoon of instant was required - just toss it in with the flour. Then, after mixing and a bit of kneading, I stick it in the fridge overnight. Works for me.
Did it work after you pulled it from the fridge, Jeannie?
Rosalie
No, it didn't. Now after doing some more reading I am wondering if my yeast was no longer viable. It was not past its date, but it had been opened.
I keep my ADY in the freezer. The current batch is several years old, and I opened it maybe two years ago. I removed about a half cup to a separate container and keep both the original package and the smaller one airtight in the freezer. The second one is so that I don't have to keep opening the big one. All right so far.
Rosalie
sorry mean_jeannie
i was reading another post about salt and yours clearly about yeast,in my eagerness to help out i seem to have confused the two (age thing.)At least the part about incorporating forgoten inrediants is relavant. It is really hard to incorporate forgotten ingediants into the dough unless it is realised very early into the mixing process as over mixing can be a real problem.
YOZZA