Rip it up and start again.

For the first time I can remember, an utter, throw-it-in-the-garbage-call-the-pizzeria-rally-car-off-the-side-of-the-mountain-smoldering-in-the-ravine fiasco last night. Not to say that I always hit it out of the park, but 99.9% of the time, something edible ensues from the attempt to make dinner. Not this time. I have been really excited about making the Momofuku pork buns, but it got a little late, and then I noticed there were two more stages of manipulating dough and waiting that I had missed. Tried to hurry the rise by letting the dough balls heat ever so gently, and they cooked on the bottom. Looking forward to a shot at redemption soon, (the pork is ready to go, sort of, and more on that later),  but the dough did seem on the wet and sticky side before I started, so a question -- does weather/climate/humidity affect rising times/volumes appreciably? The no-knead bread, the only thing I bake w/ any regularity or success, seems to do better w/ considerably more yeast than the recipe calls for. Welcome your thoughts. Play us off, Orange Juice, won't you?

Comments

[Marco]

Weather, temp and humidity etc., definitely affects rise times and volume. Harold McGhee says 80F is suggested for quick rising of a couple of hours. We have also found that dough rises much quicker and fuller in the hot and humid days in the great NE.

[Charles M]

When baking bread I often turn the oven on to the lowest possible heat and place my rising container on top of the oven, right in the middle of the range. Be careful that it's not next to the vent. To avoid any potential uneven heating I turn it every so often. Other than that this seems to provide the right temperature because it takes the same time to double the dough in my kitchen as the recipe says it should.

[Ksholler]

An old Sholler maneuver is to turn the oven light on and let your dough rise in its draft-less relative warmth (provided you're not using it). I had a lot of trouble baking bread and other rising things here, but once I started using filtered water to proof the yeast it was fine.

[Natalie Sztern]

what should i say...put too much salt in the brine i used to corn my own beef....nothing could save it for my passover last nite and then of course talk turned to food blogs while i sat red in the face...

[Skeen]

You might need more warmth and more time. Adding more yeast might affect flavor/texture, but if it works for you . . .

Also, have you tried instant yeast (which is kind of a misnomer, but whatever) -- it's what the King Arthur people use.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2815/active-yeast-vs-instant-yeast