Breadmaking - bread very light and falls apart !

kethry

trying-very-trying wrote: »

I would love to make my bread by hand. I have tried it, but I don't have anywhere warm enough for the dough to rise(at least not during the day, when I have the time)

as others have said, bread *will* rise even in the fridge, but if you want somewhere warm enough for it to rise during the day.. the way to do it is to cover the bowl with the bread with oiled/greased clingfilm (so that if it rises and touches the clingfilm, it won't stick - just pull out the clingfilm, dribble a little oil on it, and wipe it over with a disposable kitchen towel, then put it on the bowl, oil side down). If you have a big bowl you may need to do a cross to get it completely covered. Put the bowl inside the empty, clean, washing up bowl, then put hot water (from the tap, not the kettle) into it, so your bowl of dough is essentially floating in the hot water. this is more successful if you have a wide shallow bowl that you can rest against the edges, than a tall one that might tip over!! anyway, once you've done that, cover the whole thing with a good thick towel - not a teatowel, more like a bath towel. The idea is to trap heat. With that method your bread will easily rise in a couple hours. You can do the same thing with the bread tins (but not to the point where they float or they will tip over, and without the clingfilm!).

If you want to have a go at rising even in a cold room, i would cover the whole thing with a towel, and maybe wrap a towel around the bottom of the bowl so that the heat from the handhot water is kept within the bowl for a bit longer. That, moving it into the warmest room in the house (even a couple degrees matter), and closing doors/windows will probably be enough. I leave mine to rise till its ready, most of the time, and while in summer it takes a couple hours, in winter, before the heating goes on, it can take a bit longer but it usually gets there sooner or later!

HTH

keth
xx