Reply #26: Sounds like dead yeast or too hot water [View All]

[Warpy]

I throw a pinch of outdated dry yeast from the co op (that stuff never dies) and salt into the bowl of flour and turn the beater on. Then I add the COLD water to it and wait until it's mixed. Then I scrape off the beater and just cover the bowl as is and ignore it until some time the next day.

It always rises. It always tastes like I've used bread yeast instead of some wild variety that contaminated the slop when I was mixing it.

Working a little extra flour into it at the end seems to be key, shaping and reshaping the dough into a ball, using just enough flour to make it easy to handle. The finished ball of dough is earlobe texture, not like regular bread which is baby bottom texture.

I love this recipe even though I have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer that does my kneading on standard recipes. Since high altitude baking pretty much requires starting with a sponge at least the night before so that flavor can be developed, it's not a big deal to do a two day recipe.