Better Bread-Making: Making Dough Rise Faster
Welcome Back to the Better Bread-making Series!
Bread-making involves a small amount of preparation and a lot of waiting around in between steps. There are a lot of things that can add to the length of time it takes to make bread. There are also a few things you can do to make dough rise faster. Let me share with you a couple time-savers so you can move from flour in the bag to bread on the cutting board faster.
Waiting for the dough to rise is the longest aspect of making yeast bread. Lots of hurry up and wait. For the dough to rise faster, you may need it give the yeast a boost.
Ways to make dough rise faster
Yeast may be a microorganism, but it has a big personality. Depending on the weather, the temperature, the environment in which it’s kept, and what you feed it, yeast acts differently. So let’s talk about a few ways to optimize your conditions so yeast will be more active and shorten the bread-making process when you’ve got a serious craving for hot fresh bread. Or you know, you’re short on time leading up to a get-together.
Temperature
Yeast is pretty finicky when it comes to optimum rising temperature. To begin with, you will want to bloom your yeast between 105°F and 115°F. Any hotter than 120°F and your yeast will likely die and you’ll have to start over. A probe thermometer is a good way to test your water or milk temperature before adding yeast.
Secondly, if your room is particularly cool (below 80°F), The yeast will act lazy and take its sweet time rising. If your room is above 90°F, you run the risk of the yeast over-proofing, or even dying because it’s just too hot.
It’s a little unreasonable to keep your whole house at that temperature just to make bread. preheating your oven just until it reaches about 90°F and turning it off will create a nice warm environment for your dough. You can also put hot water in a heat-safe dish and place it on the floor of a cold oven (or on a lower shelf). The steam and heat from the water will help the temperature rise just enough that the yeast is active. The steam will also assist in keeping the surface of the dough moist so it will stretch as it rises.
Acid
Adding acid to your dough is like handing yeast an energy drink. It helps make the yeast more active, and that means a shorter rise time. It also adds just a little bit of tang which helps make up for the shorter fermentation process.
What is fermentation? This is simply when the yeast does its thing, expanding and creating air pockets in the dough.
Acids like white vinegar or citrus juices are very helpful to both speed up the process and punch up the flavor.
- For a neutral flavor, add a tablespoon of white vinegar to the rest of the ingredients
- Add a tablespoon of lemon or orange juice if either would enhance your flavor profile
It’s that simple. If you like, keep a notebook to track the different techniques you experiment with.
I hope you give this tip a try. Keep experimenting. Keep baking.
Want another time-saving tip? Check out this post about yeast.
Happy baking!
Sarah, The Bread Lady
Want to read more about Better Bread-Making? Here are a few articles you may have missed!
Better Bread-Making: Get the Flavor You Crave
Better Bread-Making: The Proof is in the Bloom
FAQs
You can also put hot water in a heat-safe dish and place it on the floor of a cold oven (or on a lower shelf). The steam and heat from the water will help the temperature rise just enough that the yeast is active. The steam will also assist in keeping the surface of the dough moist so it will stretch as it rises.
What makes bread rise so quickly? ›
When you add yeast to water and flour to create dough, it eats up the sugars in the flour and excretes carbon dioxide gas and ethanol — this process is called fermentation. The gluten in the dough traps the carbon dioxide gas, preventing it from escaping. The only place for it to go is up, and so the bread rises.
What is the secret to making bread rise? ›
The warm, humid temperatures help the dough rise beautifully. But in the winter, it can be hard to get the lift you need in a colder home. That's because doughs proof best in warmer temps—around 80º is just right for yeast. If your kitchen is too cold, the yeast doesn't have the right atmosphere to help the dough rise.
How many times do you let homemade bread rise? ›
Bread recipes typically call for two rises: The first is the “bulk” rise when the dough rises in the bowl, while the second rise comes after the dough has been shaped, like when a sandwich dough proofs directly in the loaf pan.
What is the best temperature for bread dough to rise? ›
Conversely, dough that rises too quickly produces bread with flat flavor. Nail the sweet spot — warm enough to rise at a decent rate, yet cool enough to develop flavor — and you're golden. Studies have shown that the optimum temperature for yeast to grow and flavor to develop is 75°F to 78°F.
Is 1 hour enough for bread dough to rise? ›
The dough should generally be proofed for around 1 to 4 hours at a warm temperature or overnight (or more) at a cold refrigerator temperature. As the proofing temperature increases, the total fermentation time will decrease.
What ingredient causes a quick bread to rise? ›
Quick breads use the chemical leavening agents of baking powder and/or baking soda. Baking powder and baking soda do not require time for rising, so the batter for quick bread is cooked immediately after mixing. The best thing about quick breads is that the options are limitless when it comes to ingredients.
What ingredient helps bread rise? ›
Once reactivated, yeast begins feeding on the sugars in flour, and releases the carbon dioxide that makes bread rise (although at a much slower rate than baking powder or soda). Yeast also adds many of the distinctive flavors and aromas we associate with bread.
Does baking soda make bread rise more? ›
Baking powder and baking soda are both leavening agents, which means they cause dough or batter to expand by releasing gas. Yeast is another leavening agent you might know about.
Does letting bread rise longer make it fluffier? ›
Does Rising Bread Affect Its Texture? For a fluffy bread texture, the key is to let the bread rise long enough.
A warm kitchen worktop, sunny windowsill or somewhere close to a radiator often works. You can also leave dough to rise in an oven but you do need to be very careful and also have an oven that can deal with lower temperatures.
Do I knead bread after it rises? ›
You can knead your dough a bit after the first bulk rise, if you want. It's only necessary to knock some of the air out of it, but if you feel the need to knead it a bit, go ahead. However, don't knead it much. The real kneading happens before the first bulk rise.
Why is my bread dough not rising fast? ›
Dough may not have been kneaded enough. Kneading 'exercises' the gluten in the bread and gives it the elasticity to hold in the air bubbles produced by the yeast. It is these air bubbles that cause the dough to expand and rise.
Can you put dough in the oven to rise? ›
Hot water and steam create the perfect conditions for the dough to rise inside the oven. They help achieve consistent results with better flavor development and texture. What is this? The moist, warm environment makes dough rise faster than simply letting it sit on the counter.
Can I microwave dough to make it rise? ›
First Rise Before Shaping
- Mix and knead the dough according to the recipe's instructions. Place the dough in a large, greased microwave-safe bowl. ...
- Place glass pie pan or another shallow microwave-safe plate in a microwave oven. ...
- Cook covered on low (10% power) 10 to 14 minutes or until the dough has doubled.
This structure allows for trapping of gases so the bread will rise up nice and high. And gluten is what makes bread deliciously chewy. If you don't knead your dough, your baked bread won't rise as high, and the overall texture and appearance will be dense.
