The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Advice for not-risen stollen dough

clairedenver's picture
clairedenver

Advice for not-risen stollen dough

I noticed a post re. this very subject of not rising dough.  My situation as it stands...

The sponge was fine, bubbly and doubled.  I mixed all - first time to do this - with my mixer from paddle to dough hook.  Put all this in the bowl in a warm place for rising.  After an hour, nothing!  Not sure how to proceed with this.  Should I give it more time or cut my loses and go buy a stollen for Christmas?  I really don't want to throw out this fruit, nut and time intensive bread dough if I can just give it more time.  Help!

The dough is not very fragrent or frankly tasty.  Should it be?

I live at altitude (5280') which often requires some adjustments.  I made none this time.  I look forward to any advice.  Thanks, Claire

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Was the dough warm when you set it aside to rise or cold? 

What temperature is the "warm" place?  Do you have more yeast?

Oh and Hi and welcome!  Hope you don't mind my questions...

clairedenver's picture
clairedenver

Not sure about the temp of the dough when I put in into the bowl.

I warmed my oven at 100 for 2 min then put the bowl in.

I do have more yeast and saw in one post that if I proof more yeast (I expect the same amount as I started with - scant 1T in 1/4 water) and mix it in I could try again.

Thanks for your advice and support! C

proth5's picture
proth5

I bake at your altitude (and, perhaps the same city) and I don't think altitude is the culprit here.  A stollen wouldn't need much adjusting for the altitude.

The culprit may be the yeast (see questions from MiniOven above).  Also, very sweet doughs often take longer to rise and in very rich doughs the gluten may not be developed enough to really hold the gasses produced by the yeast.

Did you get a good windowpane with the dough? (If not, you might want to give the dough a few folds to develop the gluten)  Was your yeast fresh enough? Did you ever put the yeast in water that was hot enough to kill it?  Did you follow the recipe accurately? Have you double checked? (Since you didn't include it, its hard for me to know if the dough should be tasty.)

Those would be my first thoughts.

Good luck...

clairedenver's picture
clairedenver

When I proofed the yeast in water to start the sponge all seemed fine. Wouldn't this indicate that the yeast was ok? I did up the amount of dried fruit and nuts which may be slowing things down. 

Not sure what you mean by "windowpane". 

Thanks, C

proth5's picture
proth5

"Windowpane" is a common test to make sure that the gluten in the flour has been developed enough to rise well.  A small piece of dough is taken and gently stretched to see if a it will stretch enough to form a small translucent "windowpane." If the dough won't stretch (and I'll admit this is a challenge with a lot of fruit/nuts in the dough, but you want to find a small piece that is just dough) it may not be developed enough to hold the gases from the yeast.  In theory, if enough time elapses, the gluten will develop enough without any more interference and the dough will rise, but this is "in theory" and "in time" and that time could be large. 

(Just found a link to a video of pulling a windowpane - hopefully it works 

http://how2heroes.com/videos/techniques/bakers-tip-pulling-a-window-pane

If it doesn't try typing windowpane into the search function on these pages and you will find some advice)

Since you feel your yeast is good, you might want to try the windowpane test (and you might look this up in the "Lessons" or "Handbook"  or "Video" sections of these pages) before you try adding more yeast.  If the dough is not sufficiently developed, you might want to try giving it some folds so that it gains strength (again, look to the lessons, video, and handbook sections for much better help on this than I can provide) and put it to rise again.

Good luck!

gcook17's picture
gcook17

What kind of yeast are you using.  The general guideline I've heard is that you should use osmotolerant yeast if the sugar is 13% or more of flour weight.  I use it in my stollen, panettone, and croissants and they rise quite well.  I've also heard you can use regular instant yeast with sweet doughs but they will take longer to rise.  The type of osmotolerant yeast I use is SAF Gold and I get it from King Arthur.  I've never seen it in a grocery store --> http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/saf-gold-instant-yeast-16-oz .

 

clairedenver's picture
clairedenver

Just used Red Star yeast.  When I checked I realized it was Bread Machine yeast but it says can be used in traditional baking as well.  Expiration date is 2011. 

I've just started baking again after many years as i inherited a bread baking machine.  This looked like a straightforward recipe but I guess each type of bread has its own issues.

I'm going to proof another batch of yeast & water, then knead it in with a bit more flour. I don't have the time to start over or even go to the store for another type of yeast or more ingredients.

Thanks, C

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

That you don't proof the yeast.  Instant yeast is designed to be dry added into the flour.  Try just mixing it up with a tablespoon of water to just make a thin paste and then dab it around on the dough and then work it in.

Mini

proth5's picture
proth5

Red Star is not as clear on this as Fleishman's, but Bread Machine Yeast is pretty much the same as instant yeast.  This is a perfectly fine general purpose yeast.

There are special yeasts that have been developed to work in a high sugar environment, however opinions vary as to whether they are really needed when you are baking sweet breads.  I won't get involved in that controversy, but your yeast should be fine for your baking.

JavaGuy's picture
JavaGuy

Does anyone have an idea where you can find osmotolerant yeast in a store? I live around Atlanta and it seems like someone should carry it.

I make stollen for Christmas and it usually comes out ok, but it could use more rise.

clairedenver's picture
clairedenver

Thanks to all for your advice and encouragement!  I was about to toss this and now have two lovely loaves of stollen for my family.

Last night I kneaded in my proofed sponge and some flour, then put it back into the warm spot - and it rose!!  The quality of the dough is so much more "alive" (warm, fragrent) then the cold lump before so I knew things were moving along.  I shaped the two loaves and put them into the fridge for the night as I ran out of awake time...

The loaves have been sitting and gradually rising for about 1.5 hours now.  I'm going to bake soon and frost.  I'm going to serve this with a honey cream cheese spread as we have several children who may find the different dried fruits kind of strange. 

Happy Holidays

clairedenver's picture
clairedenver

I wanted all who were so helpful to know how well my stollen turned out!  I served it today, warming and then frosting and all just loved it.  I was amazed at how delicious it was and not at all heavy or dense. 

I have learned that bread dough is very forgiving so am encouraged to keep on trying things.  The pictures on this site are just beautiful so I'll look at them next.

Thanks again to all.

mrfrost's picture
mrfrost

Glad for you that it turned out well.

I really didn't get all the details about your dilemma, but I see you mentioned 1 1/2 tsp yeast. That really doesn't seem like nearly enough for a stollen type dough recipe.

So, unless I missed it in an earlier post, what recipe did you use? I may eventually get around to trying one.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

that you added more yeast!  Happy Holidays!