I bake bread. What exactly is accomplished when I let the dough rise? Is there an advantage to letting the d

Answer 1

The gluten that you worked your arms numb to get while you were kneading the dough forms an elastic, airtight matrix that holds the gasses that the yeast gives off as it feeds on the carbs and sugars in your dough.

That gluten is tough, chewy and a good substitute (if flavorless) for chewing gum. Try some sometime.

As the bread sits and the bubbles form, the gluten will relax making your bread much more tender, the bubbles will expand, and, in the oven, all of this 'sets' giving you the structure or 'crumb' of your bread.

Best wishes!

Answer 2

Texture is the reason for allowing bread dough to rise. The rising time allows the yeast to work and lighten the dough. Otherwise, you get an inedible lump of something that can be used as a weapon of mass destruction. . .

. . .or at least that's how it feels in your stomach, anyway.

Answer 3

allowing the dough to rise allows for the yeast to activate, air-pockets to form, along with helping gluten-strands form. It is a necessary step in making any yest doughs.

Answer 4

You expand the dough with carbon dioxide a byproduct of the fermentation of yeast. It makes the dough light and absorbent.

Answer 5

When the dought rise it expands... it is called fermentation... it should be let to ferment for an hour or so and then can be put in the oven to be cooked... But bread fermentation can not occur without yeast... Then the bread wouldnt taste good...

Answer 6

If you don't let the dough rise, the bread will be very dense and flat. Matza is unleavened bread - bread that didn't rise.

Answer 7

fills the dough with air pockets so the done product is light and airy