Yeast

Faith

I tried to make cinnamon rolls this morning, but the dough just did not rise. I used the correct amount of yeast, covered it and left it in a warm room. Am I doing something wrong? Or is there a trick to it?

rockbeer

Hard to say without a precise description of what you did, but the number one cause of yeast not doing its job is killing it with hot water.

Recipes often suggest pre-mixing the yeast with luke-warm water, and maybe a bit of sugar, to get it activated. I do this myself, but if the water is hotter than lukewarm you can just kill off the yeast stone dead. Poor sensitive stuff that it is.

The other thing that comes to mind is the age of the yeast? It doesn't stay active forever, so if you've had it knocking about in the press for a year or two it might be time to get some new stuff.

You don't say whether you were using fresh or dried yeast?

Post your recipe...

Edit: Oh yes, and how long did you leave it to prove before you gave up?

The Sweeper

Hmmmm...

My first reaction was your yeast was old and/or dead. Was it a fresh packet, newly opened, within date? If it had been previously opened, was it stored properly before you used it?

Second thing: pastry everything cold, baking everything warm.

Did you knead the dough for long enough until it was elastic, before shaped it to prove? (Usually up to 10 minutes). How warm was the room? Whatever liquid you added to the mixture to bring it together (with cinnamon rolls I'm assuming water though you may have had to add milk or something, I don't know) - that liquid should have been warm, so was it?

More info to assist diagnosis!!

oblivious

Also check you did not accidentally add to much salt, as this will inhibit yeast growth

Faith

rockbeer wrote: »

Recipes often suggest pre-mixing the yeast with luke-warm water, and maybe a bit of sugar, to get it activated. I do this myself, but if the water is hotter than lukewarm you can just kill off the yeast stone dead. Poor sensitive stuff that it is.

The other thing that comes to mind is the age of the yeast? It doesn't stay active forever, so if you've had it knocking about in the press for a year or two it might be time to get some new stuff.

You don't say whether you were using fresh or dried yeast?

Post your recipe...

Edit: Oh yes, and how long did you leave it to prove before you gave up?

The recipe (which I'd prefer not to post up for copyright reasons) called for lukewarm milk (at about 38 degrees). It's possible that I overheated it, but it was certainly nowhere near boiling or anything.

I''d just bought the yeast an hour or so before starting. I checked the dates and it's fine. It's dried yeast from a sachet. I left it to rise for an hour.

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

Did you knead the dough for long enough until it was elastic, before shaped it to prove? (Usually up to 10 minutes). How warm was the room? Whatever liquid you added to the mixture to bring it together (with cinnamon rolls I'm assuming water though you may have had to add milk or something, I don't know) - that liquid should have been warm, so was it?

More info to assist diagnosis!!

I didn't knead it for that long, maybe 3 minutes? The room was just at room temperature, not particularly hot. That could have something to do with it. I used milk to bring it together.

oblivious wrote: »

Also check you did not accidentally add to much salt, as this will inhibit yeast growth

I put in a teaspoon in a large recipe, so I really doubt there was too much.

Thanks for the replies everyone! It could just be a combination of inexperience with yeast and getting the wrong temperatures. I think I'll try again later or tomorrow and see if it rises this time!

rockbeer

I'd put my shirt on your milk being too hot.

An hour isn't that long... you'd certainly expect to see some activity after that long, but not always. Especially at room temp in Edinburgh in November, which after all could be about -15

Have you got a hot press or something you could use? In my experience, proving at room temp gives a much slower rise (but a much better flavour!).

Faith

I just remade them with cooler milk and a hotter room and so far, so good! Just about to pop them in the oven now.

rockbeer

Yum!
Let us know how they turned out.