How to Fix Flour Not Floating

You’ve got the whole thing planned: dinner, wine, a fresh loaf of bread, plus delicious grilled ribs, fresh chicken. Everything is ready but you discover the bread dough is not floating. This is a common problem with home bakers: you try to make a nice loaf, but the yeast doesn’t work. However, this problem is easy to recognize and deal with. Read the following instructions to learn how to make yeast active again.

Table of Contents

Fix powder

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Increased temperature. Yeast needs hot, humid temperatures to work best. If you want the dough to rise, you need to give the yeast what it needs.

Pour boiling water into a baking tray and place in the lowest slot in the oven. Place the dough on the griddle in the center groove and close the oven door to let the dough rise.
Another way is to boil a cup of water in the microwave, then put the powder in the microwave with the cup of water and close the door. (However, the microwave is not working at this time!)
Some people turn on the oven and put the dough on the surface of the oven, cover with a damp cloth. The oven makes the top surface warm, and the damp cloth also adds moisture.

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Add yeast. If heat and humidity don’t stimulate yeast to expand (you’ll notice after about an hour), you can try adding more yeast.

Open a new package of yeast and mix 1 teaspoon of yeast with 1 cup of warm water (about 40°C) and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Incubate the mixture for about 10 minutes, if you see 1.2 to 2.5 cm of foam, the yeast works well. If nothing happens, you will have to take fresh yeast and try again.
While waiting for the yeast mixture to rise, warm the dough slightly to about 38°C by placing the bowl of dough in a warm place.

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Mix yeast dough. Add the required amount of flour: 60% flour to 40% liquid is a perfect ratio for making bread dough so just add just the right amount of flour to balance. Knead the dough with the yeast mixture, then let the dough rise in a hot, humid place.

This is also a telltale sign if your yeast isn’t working. This way stimulates yeast to expand a lot, so if added, the dough will rise beautifully. If the dough still won’t rise, it’s not a yeast problem but something else.
The next time you want to make another dough, you should do it first.

Add flour to the dough. Check to see if the dough is sticky to the touch. If so, it’s possible the dough hasn’t arrived yet. Add flour to knead until smooth and smooth to the touch, does not stick to hands. Let the dough rest and rise in a hot, humid environment. Repeat the operation if necessary. You need to let the dough rest overnight before cutting and baking.

Knead the dough properly. Kneading dough is also an art. Knead the dough too quickly and you won’t be able to get the yeast to evenly disperse in the dough. The dough will not be strong enough to float. Kneading too thoroughly will make the dough hard and not floating. The dough should be smooth and pliable, not hard like a rubber ball or soft like a cookie dough.

Handling powder problems

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Find cause. Note the following points for preliminary identification. Because even a small change in the environment can solve the problem without spending a lot of time and effort.

Check the dough and yeast type. Some types of sourdough bread float very slowly and take a long time to float.
Make sure the yeast still has an expiration date. Powdered yeast in the package has the same long shelf life as the jars of dry yeast in the freezer. However, both fresh yeast and dry yeast are weakly active or inactive after the shelf life.

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Check the environment. The ideal temperature is around 38°C and there is high humidity. If this is not reached, the yeast will not work well.

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Check powder type. Bread made from cake flour or all-purpose flour, low in gluten and protein, so the dough can still float but then deflate.

This also happens if your dough has more water than flour.
Some flours contain antifungal ingredients to extend shelf life. Since yeast is a bright member of the Mushroom kingdom, this powder will prevent yeast from growing.
Organic, unbleached, additive-free white bread flour is best suited for making a loaf of white bread.
Heavy flours such as whole-wheat flour, rye, and some other whole-wheat flours will make the dough heavy so it won’t float as well as white bread flour.

Let the dough rest. Do not touch the dough while it is floating, especially if the dough is wet.

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Choose the right powder container. It makes a difference when you use a pan, broiling basket or tray. The dough container is too big, the dough has nothing to cling to when it expands, so it won’t float. Instead, it will expand horizontally and possibly collapse.

If making small cakes, you can put the dough close together.

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Check raw materials. Certain spices like cinnamon have natural antifungal properties.

For sweet fruit bread or waffle rolls, you’ll need to make the dough rise quickly because the cinnamon will kill the yeast.
Some dried fruits have antifungal agents as a preservative. Organic dried fruit is expensive but suitable for baking. Bakers often use regular dried fruit but don’t add it until the dough is done.

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Be gentle when adding salt. Salt is necessary for the formation of gluten proteins that make dough smooth, but too much salt kills the yeast. Add only the required amount of salt and add it to the dough from the beginning, not the water.

Advice

Check the ratio of flour and water. The ratio of powder and water 60:40 is best. A dough with a lot of water will also float but not rise high or expand and then collapse.
Non-floating bread dough can be reused to make thin dough, baking powder and other baked goods at no cost. In that case, you’ll need non-leavened air-bubble products such as baking powder, a mixture of bicarbonate and citric acid, beer, lemon juice, soda water, or butter when rolling the dough if you’re making it. thousand layers cake.
Check the water and powder periodically. The pH is also a problem: if it’s too high or too low, it kills the yeast. Test one water sample and one water sample with flour and some powders mixed with water, then test with baking soda (to test acidity) or vinegar (to test alkalinity). If the floating liquid is less foamy, it means the pH is not balanced. If there is no foam then the pH is fine. Note: you can also purchase a pH test kit from a pool supply store.
Make sure to preheat the oven for at least 5 minutes before serving. The pizza base also helps transfer heat well to the tray or dough pan, or you can place the dough directly on the already-heated base. Many types of bread dough fail because the oven is not preheated.
The main cause of slow-rising bread dough is that the dough is just kneaded to stimulate the gluten and protein enough to create a smooth dough. After a period of time, the resting dough becomes weak and the air bubbles inside collapse. It depends on the experience of timing and observing the dough to see if the dough is weak before the yeast is active. You can fix the dough by adding gluten or a bread additive, but with gluten-free bread it’s not so easy to fix and you have to accept the finished product. When you want a perfect dough like a sweet bread dough or a yeast dough, slow rising is ideal so it doesn’t have large air bubbles – this is sometimes done in the fridge.

Warning

Fixing yeasted scones is sometimes difficult, especially those with butter in each layer like the croissant croissant. If you re-knead the dough, you’ll end up with brioche dough, which is fine, but if you want a lot of flakes, you’ll need to make new dough.
If all methods fail to fix it, you need to change the ingredients and start over.

Steps

Fix powder

Handling powder problems

Advice

Warning

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