What happens if you don’t let bread rise?
To put things simply, when you do not allow your bread to rise, it is going to be dense and less flavorful. it will be more akin to a cake than anything else, given that it will be just dough and not the plethora of air bubbles that make bread into the fluffy loaves that everyone knows and loves. What Does Bread That Doesn’t Rise Look Like?
Can You bake dough that hasn’t risen?
If your dough hasn’t risen, then it’s not worth baking it as it is or it’ll be too dense to enjoy. Instead, you can roll it out very thin and bake it as a flatbread or a pizza. Alternatively, you can dissolve more active yeast in some warm water, then work it into the dough and see if it rises.
Why does Bread need to rise twice?
During the second rise, the dough is placed onto an oven spring that will allow the bread to rise as the yeast moves faster, activated by the temperature. Likewise, the rise in temperature will allow the gasses in the bread to expand, further allowing it to rise and take shape. This step also adds flavor from the active yeast.
What happens if you put too much sugar in bread?
If you have too much sugar in your dough, chances are that it will gobble up almost all of the food the yeast needs, leaving you with dry, ineffective yeast. To counteract this, be sure you allow sweet doughs, like the kind used to make cinnamon rolls or babka, plenty of time to rise.
Yeast can be a fickle ingredient, but it's essential for homemade bread recipes. Learn why your bread isn't rising (and fix it!)
Yeast can be a fickle ingredient, but it's essential for homemade bread recipes. Learn why your bread isn't rising (and fix it!).
The Yeast Is Too Old
If the yeast you’re using is expired, chances are you will not get a good rise (if any at all) from it. Yeast is a microorganism and does have a definite life span. For best results, always make sure to use yeast before the “best by” date.
The Water Is Too Hot
When you proof your yeast, be sure that the water you use is at the right temperature. Our Test Kitchen recommends water between 105 and 115ºF. Anything hotter than that could kill the yeast and all its rising powers.
Too Much Salt
Another yeast killer: salt. While most bread recipes call for a bit of salt, too much of the ingredient can keep the yeast from doing its job. To prevent salt from foiling your bread bakes, measure carefully and never pour yeast and salt on top of one another in your mixing bowl.
Too Much Sugar
In general, sweet doughs take longer to rise. That’s because sugar absorbs the liquid in the dough—the same liquid that the yeast feeds on. If you have too much sugar in your dough, chances are that it will gobble up almost all of the food the yeast needs, leaving you with dry, ineffective yeast.
Too Much Flour
The big lesson here: too much of any ingredient can mess with your bread’s rise—even flour. Too much flour can make your dough stiff and dry. And we all know what happens if there’s not enough liquid present for the yeast to use: It doesn’t work the way it should.
Using Whole Grains
Adding more grains to your diet is great for your health, but adding more grains to your bread can be a bit of a headache. White flour, the base for most bread, creates all those wonderful gluten strands that help your bread get its airy texture. Whole wheat and other alternative flours, on the other hand, don’t develop gluten as easily or at all.
My Experiment Results
I decided to run two experiments with different doughs. The first dough I would bake straight after kneading and would have no rising at all. The second dough I would allow it to have a first rise, shape it and then bake soon after – so effectively rushing the second rise. I think everyone has rushed the second rise when they don’t have much time!
Some Explanations
The first rise starts to build flavor in the dough from fermentation of yeast and sugars. We see the release of CO2 gas, alcohol and acids which all add to the flavor. Secondly, we start building the texture of the dough from the gas pockets trapped inside the webby network of gluten.
How To Tell When Dough Is Perfectly Risen
With yeasted dough, the bread is usually fully proofed and ready to bake after 1 – 1.5 hours, depending on temperature. This is assuming you’ve already given it a first rise and shaped it.
How To Speed Up The Rise
Warmth speeds up rising because the yeast is more active in warmer temperatures. That is until it starts to die around 130F/55C. So placing the dough in a warm spot will speed up the rising period. In a boiler room or in front of the oven work well.
Swap Yeast For Baking Soda For Speed
Another option to make bread faster is to use baking soda instead of yeast. With this, you don’t have to let the bread rise and there is no kneading. Instead, the sodium bicarbonate (an alkali) and the buttermilk (an acid) will react to create the carbon dioxide.
Conclusion
From my tests you can see what happens if you bake bread without letting it rise, and also if you don’t let it rise long enough. Plain and simple – it makes pretty bad bread! It’s best to allocate enough time to bread making as its a lengthy process.
Why did my bread dough not rise?
First things first, did the bread dough completely fail or does it just need some more time in a warm place? Try punching it down – did it have any air in there at all?
How to make flatbreads with unrisen dough
Another option to contemplate is making flatbreads. Flatbreads don’t use yeast anyway and so the fact that the dough hasn’t risen won’t matter at all.
