Stumbling on this site has lit a fire in me! I went from "making due" with conventional squishy bread, all the while dreaming of the German bakers back home in Canada, to braking ALL the bread my family of 4 eats. No small feat when my son is in the "toasted sandwich everything" phase.

But that's not why I started this thread. I'm curious, twice now I've been in the middle of combining the dough, like we're talking everything is in the bowl and 75% combined, just about to get into my 10 minutes of kneading, when my 1.5 year old does something destructive/life threatening. Obviously I rush off and deal with the crisis.

BUT, the dough that has resulted from this has been very light and well sprung in the end. Is it just luck that it's turned out so well, or does the fact that I proceed through the steps as though I wasn't stopped, essentially giving it a third rise the reason it's working out?

Anyone know? I'm green enough to want to know FOR SURE why things work, and not guess at it.

Thanks everybody.