# My dough won't rise...stupid yeast, please help!



## Nato (Jan 2, 2009)

Hey everyone,
Even though I love cooking, I don't really have a lot of knowledge about it...yet  I recently acquired a recipe for making dinner rolls from scratch, however, I can't get the stupid dough to rise. Here's what I did...

I mixed the wet and dry ingredients separately then I added the wet mixture to the dry and mixed it with a wooden spoon until it was a sticky dough and then I put it in a greased bowl and covered it with plastic wrap and let it set for 12 hours in the fridge and nothing happened, I'm so frustrated!!!!

Also, I put the yeast packets in the fridge before I used them and they are fresh packets, expire in November of this year, did putting them in the fridge make them unusable? Any tips about this would help a lot, I really want to experiment with this recipe because I have an idea for cinnamon rolls and my fiancee loves both these dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls and it would make my day if I could make them for her and would make her day if she could eat them with me!  

Thank you much!


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## pdswife (Jan 2, 2009)

I'm not a baker but... I think yeast has to be warm to work.


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## Fisher's Mom (Jan 2, 2009)

Dough has to be placed in a warm spot to rise. It will not rise in the fridge. The yeast is fine straight from the fridge as long as your other ingredients are the correct temperature. So I would say your yeast is probably fine.


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## miniman (Jan 2, 2009)

There a few threads on bread making here and some ingenious ways of leaving the dough to rise. It does need to be warm (not hot), I switch my ovens on on leave the dough on the stove top to rise. Others use airing cupboards, warm microwaves and there is also some one who uses the dishwaher after a cycle. It will rise in the fridge but very very slowly.


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## Fisher's Mom (Jan 2, 2009)

miniman said:


> There a few threads on bread making here and some ingenious ways of leaving the dough to rise. It does need to be warm (not hot), I switch my ovens on on leave the dough on the stove top to rise. Others use airing cupboards, warm microwaves and there is also some one who uses the dishwaher after a cycle. It will rise in the fridge but very very slowly.


Oh, I didn't know it would _ever_ rise in the fridge - this is good to know. Do you think the poster can save the dough they have already made by putting it in a warm place?


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## pdswife (Jan 2, 2009)

I think so Miniman... Paul always makes a double batch of pizza dough and we freeze one half.  It rises just fine after thawing.


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## Glorie (Jan 2, 2009)

I have the same problem with yeast, I can't get anything to rise.  How warm is the water supposed to be???


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## Fisher's Mom (Jan 2, 2009)

Okay, Nato, if you still have the dough, I would try putting the dough in a warm place and see if it will rise. If you don't have one, I have wrapped my bowl with a heating pad set on low and it works. Cover it with a damp towel, just as you did before.

If you have already gotten rid of the dough, then I would suggest that you make another batch, making sure that your liquids are the correct temperature. That is the thing I've found to affect rising the most in my baking. 

BTW, welcome to DC and be sure to let us know how it turned out!


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## Nato (Jan 2, 2009)

Oh, ok, awesome, thank you everyone. I'll definitely give it a shot after I get off work tonight. One more quick question, the recipe says to leave it in the greased bowl covered in plastic wrap for 12 hours in the fridge and if the only difference is that is rises super slowly in the fridge, do you guys think I would be able to leave the dough out covered with wax paper and a warm damp towel and let it rise the same way only in a much much shorter time?

Thank you all again so much for your very helpful responses, I'm very excited to try it out now


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## LadyCook61 (Jan 2, 2009)

Glorie said:


> I have the same problem with yeast, I can't get anything to rise. How warm is the water supposed to be???


 

 There could be a few different things going on here.  First, yeast is pretty temperature sensitive.  When you first combine the yeast with water, the water really should be between 105 and 115 degrees.  If it's colder, the yeast won't wake up.  If it's too warm, it kills the yeast.  I use a candy thermometer to make sure the water is the right temp.  Also, even if your recipe doesn't call for it, you should add a little pinch of sugar or dab of honey to the initial mixture of yeast and water so the yeast has something to eat.  This first mixture should form a foamy layer (like beer foam) on top after sitting for about ten minutes.  If that foam doesn't form, then your problem is either that the yeast is no longer active, or the water temperature was off.  If you get the foam, but the dough itself doesn't rise, then you're not keeping it at a warm enough temperature. 
Hope this helps..
LC


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## Glorie (Jan 2, 2009)

It does help!!!  Thank you so much!!


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## LadyCook61 (Jan 2, 2009)

Glorie said:


> It does help!!! Thank you so much!!


 
You're welcome ! 
LC


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## miniman (Jan 2, 2009)

Normally you would leave the dough for an hour for the first rise - the guidance is to wait until the dough ball has doubled in size. I have left the dough in a cooler place overnight to get a head start in the morning, but it doesn't really work.

I make my water mix by 200ml tap water to 150ish mls of boiling water and it works fine for me.


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## MexicoKaren (Jan 2, 2009)

Your yeast should be fine, as others have said. I always store my yeast (which I buy a half kilo at a time) in a glass jar in the refrigerator. If I have extra, I freeze it. As LadyCook says, the warm water wakes it up. Since I can only buy "instant" yeast here, I do not "proof it" with warm water, but just mix it with the dry ingredients. That works fine. But it needs to be in a warm draft-free place to rise. It is always warm here, so my dough always doubles in less than an hour. If your kitchen is cold, use miniman's suggestion for placing it on top of the range - but be careful not to put it directly over the burner that vents the oven (usually the back left one). There, it will get too hot and possibly kill the yeast. I do have a recipe for cinnamon rolls (that I got here) that rise slowly in the refrigerator overnight. Here is the link for the recipe if you want to try them - they are wonderful.Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls, Harvest Cinnamon Roll Recipe, Fantastic Cinnamon Rolls, Yeast Rolls, Bread Machine Recipe


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## Nato (Jan 2, 2009)

Ok, awesome! Thanks to everyone who helped me with this topic, I've got a pretty solid plan to tackle these cinnamon rolls  Thanks MexicoKaren for the recipe links, that's an excellent site, I really like how there's a lot of pictures to illustrate each step, especially since I'm more of a visual person! Thanks again everyone, I'll post again after my next attempt!


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## Adillo303 (Jan 2, 2009)

Just my two cents.

I don't know if you are using instant yeast or active dry yeast. It makes a difference in how much yeast you use. 

If you are the slightest bit in doubt of your yest, you can "proof" it. To do this take 1/2 cup of water. Make sure that it si between 90 and 105 degrees F. Note! Subtract this from the total amount of water the recipe calls for. Put it in a small bowl, I use a desert cup. Put in a decent pinch of sugra and a decent pinch of flour. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and stirr it all in. The yeast tends to stick to the spoon, scrape it off with your finger, get it all mixed in. Jet it set for 10 minutes. If your yeast is good it will start to foam as LC61 said. When I add the wet ingredients, I dump the proofed yeast in and use the rest of the water to rinse the yeast bowl clean and dump into the dry ingredients. That way I get all the yeast.

I have heard tell that boiliing a cup of ware in the microwave and leaving the cup on the microwave, turned off, and putting your greased bowl of dough in there helps. I have also heard of putting the dough bown on the top rack of the oven, oven off, and a bowl of hot water under it helpw. Yeast liks warmth and humidity.

As to the amount of time. Warm dough rises faster than cold dough. Clod risen dough has more falvor. In 12 hours in the fridge you should have gotten some rise. If the dough is room temp or slightly above you should get it risen in an hour of two. 

I very much agree with LC61 about under temp in your water being bad. Water too hot will kill your yeast dearer than heck. My preference is 90 to 105 degree water. 

Hope this helps - AC


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## Nato (Jan 5, 2009)

WOOHOO, it worked! took a bit longer because I had to wait for the yeast to warm up after taking it out of the fridge and when asked why I was suppose to leave the dough in the fridge, the person who gave me the recipe responded with, "So, you can cook them later"! oh goodness, lol, if I would've known that, then I would've gone ahead and skipped that whole mess!!! But thank you all so very much for your help and tips, I set it in a warm place and made sure that the water was the correct temp this time and the dough rose just fine and my fiancee loved them, so again, thank you very very much!!


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## praja (Feb 6, 2009)

Hi Nato just saw ur problem,don't worry it happens,but u should learn frm ur mistakes(this is what I did).Well I think u did a mistake.For making the dough rise here are the steps:
1.Take 1/2  glass of warm water and mix 1 tsp of sugar and pinch of salt and yeast(dry active).Allow it to rest for 10 min,u will realise that foam is rising and level of water will double.
2.Now mix this solution with All purpose flour and make a smooth dough and cover it with wet cloth and let it rest for 4 hrs.Thats it.You will realise that the amt of dough has become 3 to 4 times the original amt.
Try this and I am sure u will be proud of ur own work.Good luck


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