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I'm Richa, the face behind My Food Story. Welcome to this series where I send you an email exclusive tip/recipe every Wednesday! Here's today's Tip/Kitchen Hack: Making bread at home is one of my favorite things to do! I love the whole process - getting the ingredients, kneading the dough, watching it rise, shaping it and then finally baking it. And the smell of freshly baked bread - nothing can beat that 😋😋 Here's the question I get most about bread baking - why won't my bread dough rise? I've spent time understanding the science behind this process, and I was shocked to see how simple it really is. This is what I found: 1. Old Yeast/Yeast isn't active anymore - Yeast is the main ingredient responsible for making the dough rise. So step 1, always ensure your yeast is active. Here is a handy guide I found online you can use to check if your yeast is active - https://jessicainthekitchen.com/how-to-test-yeast-to-see-if-its-still-good/ 2. Always feed your yeast - Yeast needs food or glucose to work. Mostly sugar and then flour and/or milk. All these ingredients contain glucose in some form and that's why yeast and sugar are the first ingredients combined together. Never combine yeast with salt in the beginning which creates a hindrance and can kill yeast. 3. Temperature - For yeast to activate and do its thing, it needs certain atmospheric conditions. One being the temperature. The ideal temperature required is 80F/27C - 90F/32C. To create this, always allow the dough to rise in a warm spot - maybe the oven with only the light on or near the stove or window during the day. 4. Humidity - The second condition is getting the humidity right. The amount of moisture or humidity present in the atmosphere will tell how long the dough takes to rise. In general, a bread dough requires 60 to 80 percent humidity level. To create this, always cover the dough with a warm wet cloth. If you reside in a cold place, I suggest covering the dough with a warm wet cloth and placing it inside an oven preheated at 50C. You don't need to keep the oven on, just preheat it and switch it off. Pro tip: If you're doing the oven method for proofing your bread, another way to create humidity would be to place a bowl of boiling water on the floor of the oven and immediately close the oven door. The hot steam trapped inside will give your dough a humid environment! P..S. Did you know that proofing bread in the Instant Pot takes only 30 minutes because it creates the perfect, warm environment for the dough. I have a whole blogpost on how this works! Click here for the link. Hope this helps!! Is there anything else you need help with? Reply and tell me and I'll make sure to include it in my next few emails. Happy Cooking, Richa Gupta
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