Artisan Sourdough - Part Four: The Rise

Now we move on to bigger things, quite literally. That ball of dough is going to grow quite a bit over the next couple of hours as a few things are happening. The yeast is quite busy working on all of that flour we gave it in the previous installment, creating more carbon dioxide bubbles and compounds that further develop the flavor of the bread. The CO2 is pushing against the gluten, remaining trapped in the dough and causing it to rise. And we're daydreaming about the bread we'll soon be eating, since there really isn't much for us to be doing while all this is happening.

Our dough as we last saw it.

What we're waiting for at this point is for the dough to roughly double in size, which can take anywhere from 45 minutes to a few hours. At least once I can recall letting it sit overnight, likely due to low temperatures retarding the yeast's activity. If it is a pleasant day, I will often sit the covered bowl outside and let a warm afternoon speed things up a bit. Ideally, we want an ambient temperature above 70 degrees (F) for the rise.

About two hours later... IT'S ALIVE! (evil laugh)

While some breadmakers have developed their own techniques that involve several rises, my method requires just two-- the first rise we are doing now, and a final rise after shaping but before going into the oven. Once our dough has grown to twice it's original size, we're ready to move on to forming loaves.

Next:
Part Five - The Form
Previous:
Part Three - The Dough