Bread wont rise

[Odsox]

A few days ago I made a white loaft, when I left it to rise the first time it did actually rise a fair amount, but it hardly rose at all in the oven.

One thing that I noticed in your post HB, bread DOESN'T rise in the oven, well not much anyway.
The loaf should be fully risen before you put it in a very hot oven.

Other than that, breadmaking is dead easy once you get the hang of it.
I make 3 loaves every week in one batch, I used to knead by hand but can't any more (medical problem) so I now use a Kenwood that I picked up cheap on Ebay.
This is what I do ....
3lb of Lidl plain flour.
650ml of hand hot water
2 eggs
2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoon Doves Farm yeast.

Put all into bowl and mix.
Either knead by hand for about 10 mins or in a mixer for 5 mins.
Put bowl of dough covered with a damp tea towel in a warm place ... I put mine in the airing cupboard.
When doubled in size (about an hour in my airing cupboard) knead again for a few minutes to break up the bigger air bubbles into smaller ones.
Divide into 3 and either put in 1lb loaf tins or shape into cob loaves.
Put back in the warm place until doubled again and bake in a pre-heated oven (gas 8) for 25 - 30 minutes.

If you don't mind larger holes or more open bread (what they call Rustic in shops) then you can get away with just the initial rising.
After the first knead, put straight into tins ... put in warm place, cover etc, and when doubled stick in the pre-heated oven.

Strong bread flour makes the better loaf and I would recommend it for beginners, but softer flour like Lidls or English Tescos (not Irish) ordinary plain flour makes an acceptable loaf and one hellovva lot cheaper.

Whatever .... don't give up, you can't beat home made bread, and you know exactly what's in it.

[Rosendula]

think i will give your recipe a go rosendula, looks simple enough for me! but it seems like an awful lot of salt sounds similar to sourdough bread which i keep meaning to have a go at but haven't got around to yet.

This has been bugging me all day, so I finally checked and have edited my first reply in order to correct my silly error. I originally said to use 250ml water, in which case you would be right, 4tsp would be a LOT of salt. I got my jug out and realised I actually add 25fl.oz of water, which is just short of 750ml. Sorry for the error. I hope no-one's tried it the way I typed it the first time

[pureportugal]

:) no worries
i haven't got any yeast so can't give it a go yet anyway. i did make some soda bread today though - i used up the remains of some plain rye flour, some plain wholemeal flour, and some white SR flour and it turned out great (i love that recipe, it is so forgiving!). tried a tin loaf too, haven't cut into it yet (it is supposed to be for tomorrow but expect it will be eaten today as the kids have already polished off the cob loaf before it was even cool) but it looks good.

[Helsbells]

Thanks everyone for all the ideas, I am going to give some a go, I will not be defeated!!

Just to answer a few questions;
I have followed a recipe in the River Cottage Family Cookbook;
It uses 500g strong white flour,
2tsp salt,
2tsp fast action yeast,
2tbs olive oil,
2tsp sugar or honey,
300ml warm water.

It tell you to mix the flour, salt and yeast,
Mix the sugar/honey and oil into the 300ml water,
Pour water into flour a bit at a time,
Kneed dough for at least 10 minutes (I did 15 mins)
leave to rise for an hour and a half to two hours in a warm place (left mine to rise for 2 and a half hours in front of a radiator,)
Kneed for half a minute,
Leave to rise again for about half an hour,
put in the oven.

I followed these instructions exactly, I did notice that when I was leaving my bread to rise the first time the bowl was quite cold, and the damp tea towel I put over it was quite cool too. I wonder if this was part of the problem (although I did put it infront of a radiator)
Maybe a did kneed it too hard?
I am going to try adding more yeast, and warming the bowl up first, maybe even putting it in the over as was suggested. All my ingredients were correct.

Thanks every one for all your invaluable help.

Helen

[pureportugal]

maybe next to a radiator is too hot?

[snapdragon]

you can also leave the second proving to be done overnight - pop it in the tin/on the tray, cover and put in the fridge, lots slower of course but this is what I used to do for fresh morning bread, crust is never quite so good looking that way but it's not a beauty contest is it?

Kneading is one of those 'rock and roll' things, stretch and fold- seems to me that doing it firm and steady works but bashing doesn't

LOL many moons ago there was a bread strike - and my neighbours knew I baked my own - I had a trail of people with cloth covered mixing bowls at my door asking me to fix their bread

[Berti]

ok. I have been baking for years and use exclusively sourdough but............have a look at this.

to bake a succesful bread recipe, the quantities should be about these

bread flour should be 100%
with this 100% you can calculate the rest of the recipe.
say, you want bread flour to be 500 grams = 100%

the rest of the recipe:
water 65% (if using white flour type, this is the biggest variable in the recipe, it starts with 60% and can go up to 75%)
salt 2%
yeast 3%

to calculate amounts 500:100 = 5
5 times 65 gives you the amount of water (water is the same in weight as in liquid measures) = 325
5 times 2 = 10 grams salt
5 times 3 = 15 grams yeast (fresh, if using dried, use half)

if you learn baker's percentages it should be easier to check a given recipe if it has enough of each given ingredient, or maybe too much of something.
when using different flours water percentage can go up with as much as 5 percent.
but when you gain some experience you will find you can feel the dough consistency and decide if it needs more liquid or less....
always add most liquid when making dough, but KEEP APART 50 ml of that, to see if the dough needs it.

questions? ask me. happy to help.
need a sourdough getting started? ask me too......I find it easier than using yeast.........it becomes a sort of house-pet too :D

by the way, when the dough is proofing in the pans, proof till the dough reaches the rim of the pans NOT till it raises above it......then it will be overproofed and you risk doming or collapsing.
a guideline is remember the time the dough needed for the first proof, then halve that time as a rule of thumb (= which means, ABOUT that time, not exact) for the second proof.
always let proof till doubled, no matter what the time.
dough likes a warm spot around about 25 celsius but not on a direct heat source.
a warm bowl does help but just warm to the touch is enough. too much heat kills yeast.
it is IMPOSSIBLE to overknead dough by hand but ten minutes is absolute minimum. kneading develops the gluten that has to keep the gas in when proofing the dough. beating won't do it, but kneading is much less hard work if you use your body weight instead of only your arm muscles.

good luck in your baking adventures, all :)

berti

[Helsbells]

Gosh there are so many tips here I dont know where to start!!

I am definately doing to stop off at A*da on my way home to get some more bread flour so I can try again.

Incidentally, does anyone have any recipes for a lump of bread that didnt rise?

[Elizabeth]

I love home made bread - but I'm lazy!

I use a bread machine.............(ok, very lazy!)

After much trial and error I use the french bread setting on rapid and it creates the perfect loaf. I use a mixture of whatever bread flour I have in the cupboard, never more than 50% of the heaviest type e.g. wholemeal, dried yeast, salt and handwarm water - easy peezy!!

[Berti]

for bread that didn't rise..........

-breadpudding
-put in the processor and make breadcrumbs to use as coating (you can freeze the crumbs in a big bag and take out as needed)
-feed to the animals

anyone else ideas?
berti

[Uller]

Hi Hellsbells

I make a very simple bread which I have posted about somewhere else (but would have no idea where to find it or how to link to it). It doesn't require kneading and produces a 'rustic' style loaf - not particularly suitable for sandwiches but great for toast or hot out of the oven with butter.

The recipe uses cups - I lived in Australia so got used to using them, but I think they can be found in most cookshops now.
This quantity make a couple of small cob loaves or 1 tin loaf. It is so easy to make that I prefer to make it more often than in bulk and freeze it.

1 1/2 cups of warm water
3/4 tbsp Dove's Farm yeast
3/4 tbsp salt
3 1/2 cups plain flour (don't need to use bread flour)

Mix with a wooden spoon in something like a large casserole with a lid (I use a large Pyrex). Leave to rise for about 2 hours - it will expand to fill the casserole and end up with a bubbly top. Put the casserole in the fridge and store until you need it - it will keep for about a week but I find makes a better loaf if used within a couple of days. When you want to make the bread, sprinkle the top with flour and pull off the amount that you want use (I use half at a time to make the small loaf). Shape into a cob loaf and leave to rise for about 40 minutes. Preheat the oven as hot as it will go - put a baking sheet on the top shelf and a cake tin on a lower shelf when you turn the oven on. Once the bread has risen (it won't look like it has risen much, but this one actually rises more in the oven), slide the loaf onto the hot baking sheet and add a cup of water to the tin underneath. Bake it at full blast for about 20-25 minutes or until nice and crusty.

I love this loaf - I have dough in the fridge all the time now and haven't bought bread for several months. It certainly isn't a soft fluffy loaf but I don't like eating cottonwool anyway!

The recipe is from Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day.

[Odsox]

One thing that I forgot to mention and I don't think anyone else has mentioned either ... make sure that the yeast you use is fresh.
Today is breadmaking day here and it suddenly occurred to me, I use Doves farm yeast and it takes me getting on for 3 months to use one of there 125g sachets which I keep in the fridge once opened.
Today I finished up my supply and it is taking noticeably longer for the bread to rise. It WILL rise, it will just take a little longer.
But if that yeast was significantly older that 3 months then I'm not sure it would work at all.

[Helsbells]

Wooooo hooooo!

Finally, after much perseverence I have made bread that has risen and tastes good. Admittedly it has taken me nearly two days!! But I have done it! I cant believe it!

I followed Rosendula's instructions and left the yeast in water with some flour over night, and it erally worked a treat! I am so pleased, thankyou Rosendula.

Here are some pics showing my sucess:

All puffed up and big, clearly risen bread!


ta da!


Cutting the bread for the first time:


yummy!

[Rosendula]

Well done! Bet it tastes great too.

[Clara]

Well done for perservering....looks fantastic....bet it tastes all the better for the triumph!