Sweet and fluffy: 11 tips to ensure your yeast dough rises perfectly
1. Start with a starter
Traditional recipes for sweet leavened pastries usually begin by preparing a yeast starter. Before you can start kneading dough, a remarkable reaction between the yeast and a little lukewarm milk and sugar has to take place. This forms the basis for leavened dough, with its characteristic yeast aroma. A small amount of flour is usually mixed into the starter as food for the yeast, which feeds primarily on carbohydrates from ground grains.
A well-risen starter forms a foam, rises, and then deflates slightly, which indicates the right moment to knead the dough. It shows the yeast is ready for a new supply of carbohydrates, and once it has been fed, it will expend enough energy to make the dough rise. Bakers don’t make starter dough; they rely on high-quality yeast, which isn’t usually very aromatic.
2. Room temperature as the key to success
Just as lukewarm liquid is used to make yeast dough, the other ingredients shouldn’t be added straight from the refrigerator either. Take your yeast, milk, eggs , and butter out onto the counter in advance, ideally 1 hour before preparing the dough, so they have time to warm to room temperature. The dough will then rise better and won’t collapse.
3. Don’t overdo it with the sugar
Sugars have a positive effect on the rising process — a pinch of sugar can sometimes even benefit an unsweetened dough, giving the yeast something to eat even before it slowly breaks down the free sugars available in the flour, allowing it to get started more quickly. But be careful! Sugar binds water molecules, thereby disrupting the network between water and gluten, and if the dough is too sweet, it won’t rise properly.
4. Watch out for salt, too
Salt has a place in leavened dough too. It stretches the gluten and makes the dough more elastic, enhances the flavour, and regulates the rising process. The dough should therefore contain at least 1% salt, or 10 g of salt per 1 kg of flour. When mixing, be careful not to let the salt come into direct contact with the yeast — this can cause the dough to fail to rise. Place a pinch of salt on the edge of the bowl or mix it into the flour beforehand.
5. Add butter towards the end
Butter should be added toward the end of kneading — if it’s mixed in at the beginning, the flour particles will be coated with a butter emulsion, hindering the development of gluten and gluten networks, which are responsible for the dough’s elasticity. This rule applies primarily to rich doughs with a fat content above 10–12%.
Softened butter used in yeast-leavened baked goods should be used at room temperature! Adding butter which is too cold prevents the gluten from swelling, while melted butter won’t allow air into the dough, so the resulting baked goods may turn out tough or collapse.
6. Raisins and nuts
Always add these last! You can soak the raisins in advance in rum or amaretto beforehand; they’ll absorb the flavour of the alcohol nicely. Soaking them also softens them, so kneading after adding would make them lose their form. Much like chopped nuts, raisins negatively affect the dough’s texture, so before incorporating the soaked fruit, let it drain thoroughly — adding more liquid will change the dough’s consistency, making it harder to work with. Alcohol also has an undesirable effect on the fermentation process.
7. Let your dough rise in a sauna
Once you’ve kneaded the dough, watch out for the cold! Rising dough doesn't like drafts of chilly temperatures. Let the dough rise on the kitchen counter at room temperature, or place near a heater. Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel or, even better, plastic wrap or cut-up plastic snack bags (these are practical because they don’t stick). Unlike a dish towel, they’re lightweight, don’t absorb moisture, and are airtight, creating a sauna-like effect that helps the dough rise well.
8. Shape and let rise
Successful rising is also aided by shaping. The kneaded, non-sticky dough is transferred to a rolling board, gently rounded into a ball, and then returned to the bowl, where it is left to rest and increase in volume. The rising dough is then folded two or three times — turn it out of the bowl and knead it again. Carbon dioxide will escape from the dough, the yeast will take in oxygen, and the process can continue more effectively. At the same time, this evens out the temperature inside and outside the dough, which is also important for well-kneaded doughs. Folding extends the rising time, but promises a perfect crumb!
When the dough is rising in a warm place, it’s worth “over-kneading” it — press the puffed-up dough back into its original shape and let it rise again. Then, work with the risen dough, just like our great-grandmothers did, ideally on a wooden rolling board — a wooden work surface maintains room temperature, unlike stainless steel, for example, which remains cold.
9. Does the dough have to double in volume?
Not necessarily! However, it should increase by at least 70%. For both yeast and sourdough doughs, the rise must be noticeable; otherwise, the baked goods will crack in the oven due to the heat. Consider the rising times listed in recipes to be only approximate — in a warm environment, the dough will rise in less than an hour, whereas in a cooler apartment, it will take much longer.
In any case, make sure the dough doesn’t over-rise. Overproofing will cause the finished baked goods to be flat. You'll spot over-risen dough by the fact that it has lost its elasticity, is no longer rising, and is instead shrinking and falling back. When poked, it will start to wrinkle, the indentation will remain sunken, and it won’t try to spring back.
10. Brush with egg wash
The dough should go into the oven only after it’s been brushed with beaten egg. Bakers usually beat whole eggs or egg yolks with a little cream or milk, as egg on its own might burn during baking, whilst one diluted with milk withstands high temperatures better, helping the dough turn golden.
Stir a pinch of salt into the egg-and-milk mixture, to help break down the texture of the egg whites. Doughs are sometimes also brushed with clarified butter, which has a much higher smoke point (about 250 °C) than regular butter (150 °C). This means it doesn’t burn at high temperatures.
Immediately after removing from the oven, brush your pastries with a mixture of melted butter and rum, adjusting the ratio to your taste. This will make them beautifully moist. At Prague's U Kalendů bakery, the cakes are brushed with a mixture of butter, rum, and honey, giving a glossy and fragrant result.
11. Leave to cool
Onced baked, leavened dough needs to cool at room temperature. If it’s left in a cool place while still warm, it may collapse — the crust will separate from the crumb, and a so-called “hollow” will form inside the pastry. But be sure to transfer the hot baked goods from the baking tray onto a cooling rack or another cool baking sheet, so they don't steam up and become soggy.
Source: Ambiente Bakers
