I'm wondering why my homemade bread does not rise enough? Any thoughts?

It could be faulty yeast. Or perhaps your not keeping it warm enough to allow it to rise.

Did you proof your yeast before you started?
Put it in warm water to allow it to activate?

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Kathy

Is this bread machine or hand-made?

I can think of a couple of reasons -

liquid, dough, or room too cold
old yeast
yeast not allowed to bloom long enough.


Theresa

My experience with bread leads me to think a couple of things, 1) you yeast is old; 2) your water that you are mixing the yeast in isn't the right temperature (too cold or too hot) and the yeast aren't getting activated; 3) there isn't enough sugar for the yeast to feed off of; 4) your rising area isn't warm enough or is too warm; 5) you aren't leaving it long enough.

Just my thoughts. I have never had that problem but I have always been extra careful about the temp of the fluid, too hot and you'll kill the yeast, too cold and it takes a lot longer/doesn't activate them.

Making bread required patience. First make sure it blooms. That can take 15 min. If it doesn't your yeast is old. You can add a tbsp of sugar to activate the yeast also. Then the part I love best is mixing and punching the dough. It releaves the tension in my body. My family knows when I am upset over something when I make bread and its not a special dinner. So they stay away.

Always check your yeast. Make sure ALL ingredients are fresh. You can use a heating pad on medium or high setting to get your bread to rise. Cover as normal and sit your bowl on the heating pad until the dough has doubled in size. Good luck.

It's hand-made dough. I've tried a tons of times to make it but for some reason I can't seem to get it to rise enough.. I think I'm following the recipe completely.. where do you sit your bread to let it rise?

I found that it is easiest for me to get my dough to rise if I put it on the dryer while it is running. Talk about multi-tasking!

Theresa

In addition to old yeast, the liquid could have been too hot or you put in too hot an area to rise and killed the yeast. Kneading bread increases the gluten structure that allows the bread to form air spaces for the rise to take place. Maybe you didn't knead it enough.

Check your yeast for its vitality by soaking for five minutes in the appropriate temp liquid ~ 105-115 degrees farenheit.

You can save the loaf if you haven't baked it by making a new sponge with double the amount of fresh yeast, and liquid, add some flour and then start kneading in the failed dough. It may actually have a richer flavor.

If you just can't face it today, throw it in the freezer and thaw it out later and try again or just throw it out and start over.

Thank you all for your help... Bread sure is fussy!

Check your water temp. Also what we do it put it on the stove with the oven on the lowest temp. and cover it with a tea towel. This allows it to stay warm while it is rising.

115 is too hot actually...

if you are working in a cold room or need to refrigerate your dough..even freeze it you need to up your yeast to give it enough power to lift .

But, that's a horse of another story...

Then you have to work with baker's percentages...

I think IF I remember correctly your yeast should be 2% or .2% of your formula.

You can also, help your dough rise and be more flavorful if you create a starter.

Let me know if anyone would like a starter recipe and I wil post it..

Ok, RisqueBusiness,

you know we're going to ask you, so you may as well just post it. Is it a generic starter, that can be used on several different flavors of bread, or is this a basic white/italian/french kind of starter?

I am personally fond of Pain de Campagne, but it's a three day process. Too much work for me.

Theresa

I would like the starter recipe please.
Thanks in advance
Anu

I'm not sure what you mean by a starter recipe? I'm new at this!

A starter is a yeast/flour/liquid mixture that is made ahead of time to help get your bread going easier. Many bakers use it when they make bread.

I have 2 sourdough starters here that I work with every week. One is one I started myself and the other is one of Carl's - which dates back to 1847. I keep them in the frig, and I have even dried both of them so that if anytihng would happen to them, I have a back up! My family LOVES homemade bread, and I have just gotten in the habit of making it twice a week now.

ok gals, I'm going to post it under recipes and call it bread starter...

it's a couple of days process but it does make tasty bread..and the good thing about it you can ...feed it every couple of days and keep it forever!

[quote="RisqueBusiness"]115 is too hot actually...


Yeast doens't suffer ill effects until 120 degrees farenheit, so 115 is still safe

Risque
Do you have a really good sour dough starter?

Here is a link to where I got the "1847" sourdough starter ~ if anyone is interested in it. Making your own starter isn't hard to do at all! The one I have here I started with buttermilk and flour, and it is acutally more "sour" than Carl's is. They both make wonderful bread though.

Carl's sourdough starter

Edited to add, sorry about that, I am not Risque.

[quote="Kayakado"]

we never used our liquids more than 110 F at school..and the guy teaching the class was such a pain about his breads!!

Well, since everyone jumped in with a recipe for starter then I don't need to double post it.!!!

Risque - there aren't any "recipes" posted for any starters, I just posted a link where folks could send for some for free if they are interested. Please post your recipe, I apologize for stepping in there.

Here are some links to Yahoo bread groups.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bread-machine/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BREAD-RECIPE/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ABM-recipes/ (this link is Nothing but bread machine recipes)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sourdough/

Theresa

If you can get hold of Ruth Levy Berenbaum's Bread Bible, it is fantastic. Here is a link to a pic of a loaf I made from that book.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42256787@N00/270034413

Are they only sourdough starters? Or are there some for regular bread? Also, what is a sponge (not the cleaning kind)? I LOVE homemeade bread!

a sponge or BIGA is a little of the old dough that you put into the new batch.

Sometimes it's pretty soft