Why my Dough Didn't Rise?
I get lots of people asking “why my dough didn’t rise. In the this article (plus the video below), I am going to answer your questions.
I get lots of questions about yeast everyday and here are some of them.
How do you get dough to rise?
How long does it take for the dough to rise?
Why is my pizza dough not rising?
How long should it take for bread to rise?
I would assume you are making either bread, puff, or pizza, I would also assume that you are using yeast. This article is about getting yeast to work for you incase your bread didn’t rise
Why My Dough Didn't Rise?
Your dough didn’t rise for anyone of the many reasons listed below. In most cases, age of yeast, recipe method, or even temperature of hot water can effect your baking and cause your dough to turn out bad! like mine, a disaster 😆
As I always say, every great cook or chef and made more disasters than you can imagine. This bread was supposed to rise and fill the pan but it turned out a disaster! 😆
If yeast is left over the counter and uncovered, this may probably be the reason your dough didn’t rise – spoiled yeast!
How long does it take for the dough to rise?
If you are making bread or pizza and using yeast, your dough should rise in about 45 minutes. Most people let it sit for up to one hour, especially bread dough. I have also heard of slow rising flour that sit in the fridge for up to one week – rising slowly. funny right!
Why My Bread Didnt rise?
Once again, It could be bad yeast! I am going to show you how to know active yeast from spoiled yeast via the video below. If your bread isn’t rising, blame it on the yeast. Except, you are using some other ingredients that have no business with the recipe.
If you are making a loaf of bread and using more than a spoon of butter, your dough wouldn’t rise too. The more the butter, the less the rising potential.
Warm, Hot or Cold water for yeast?
Most recipes recommends that you activate your yeast in WARN water before adding them to the rest of the ingredients. The emphasis is on the word WARM! If your water is too hot, it will kill the yeast. Too cold and the yeast won’t activate. Just mix one part boiled water and two part tap water.
I made the video below to help you dictate bad yeast from good yeast, enjoy.
In Summary
Your dough not rising properly can be frustrating, trust me, I have been there severally. but there are several reasons why this might happen and you can always fix them using some tricks.
Bread rising is primarily due to yeast activity, which produces carbon dioxide gas that gets trapped in the dough and causing it to expand. Problems result when this processes are not adequately ensured.
Beside the points listed above, here are other reasons why your dough didn’t rise
Insufficient Kneading: Proper kneading ensures even distribution of ingredients, yeast, when not evenly distributed can result in uneven rise of your bread.
Over proofing or Under proofing: Different recipes call for different amount of time for proofing your dough, if you don’t stick to the time it might result in under proofing or over proofing.
Low Yeast Content: Using too little yeast in the dough can result in weak fermentation and of course, poor rising. More reason we are advised to follow recipes strictly.
Using Too Much Salt: Salt is probably part of your recipe but using excess salt would kill some of the yeast.
Have you had any bad experience baking foods? You can use the comment form below to add your experience or ask a question.
3 Responses
For me, I later learned it was because I combined my flour with yeast from start. Now I proof my yeast in warn water before adding to the flour.
I honestly think baking is tricky, there will be times you wouldn’t be able to figure out what went wrong.
But in most cases, your dough wouldn’t rise because of bad yeast.
As a Lover of bread and pizza who can now hardly afford the store-bought versions. I needed to know why I don’t always get it right, especially this rise and fall dough. After reading your cook blog I think I can try again.