Vent: People who don't temp their dough before adding yeast

I keep seeing posts where someone says their bread didn't rise and they used water straight from the tap. Water temp matters so much. If your water is too cold the yeast barely wakes up. Too hot and you kill them. I check with a instant read thermometer every time now. Took me 3 ruined batches last winter to figure it out. Has anyone else had a loaf totally fail because of this?

2 comments

2 Comments

riverf342h ago

I mean, "barely wakes up"? It's yeast, not a person. I've used cold tap water plenty of times and my bread still turned out fine. Plus, letting the dough sit a little longer usually makes up for it. Not saying temp doesn't matter at all, but three ruined batches sounds more like a recipe or technique issue than a few degrees of water temp.

the_amy15m ago

Hear you on that @riverf34... I've definitely had times where cooler water still made decent bread after a longer rise. But I've also had those frustrating batches where nothing seemed to work right, and three in a row would drive anyone crazy. Sometimes it's just one of those baking spells where everything fights you, even if the temp seems fine on paper.