So... I’ve been baking sandwich bread for a few months now and think I’m getting pretty good at it lol.... but I had the strangest thing happen the other day!!
I’m used to waiting around 1 1/2 hours for my dough to rise and double in size — both on the first rise and the second.. I usually use a little bit of black strap molasses or agave to feed the yeast, and I sweeten the dough with stevia and Erythritol. Usually the amounts look like this:
1/2 Tbsp black strap molasses or agave nectar
2 drops liquid stevia
6 Tbsp Confectioner’s (powdered) Erythritol
Knead for 5-8 min
But yesterday I made 2 changes only...
3/4 tsp liquid stevia (I took out the Erythritol)
Knead for 10-12 min
I had been watching bread making videos and decided to try kneading the dough a little bit longer than I normally do.
I noticed after 10 min or so of rising that things were progressing MUCH more quickly... but I was worried so I stuck with my normal rise times. The dough was probably done rising at about 35min, but I let it go for 1 1/2 hours... needless to say, it didn’t rise much on the second rise :( It was overproofed! I was so taken aback by the speed!! Does anyone know why either of the two changes I made would so drastically cut down on the rising time???
I’m just going to try again but this time watch the rise — NOT the clock.... but I’m really curious about what could possibly affect my rise so drastically! I’m used to waiting SO much longer. The improvement has been great but what was I doing before that was making the rise take so long in the first place? And was it necessarily a bad thing? Does this simply come down to preference?
i might just try something myself using instant yeast and powder stevia