I need some ideas as to how to have my yeast bread dough raise better. We do not keep our house real warm in winter and I don't always have luck with dough rising. My oven is too hot for rising although I think I could put the heat on the lowest, let it heat, turn it off and place the dough in the oven.

I would appreciate any other suggestions you have.

Thank you.

Esther

I set my oven low and set the bowl on top of the stove. Enough heat escapes up to raise the bread.

The oven heat may dry it out. You can boil water in a small pan, set it in the oven with your dough. Close the door and let it rise. My DS in FL today was making pizza crust from scratch for the first time. He said it was very slow to rise. I haven't gotten a report on how it turned out.

Boil a pan of water set it in the bottom of oven(not on). Place dough in the bowl or in the baking pan in the oven and let rise. the steam from the water adds heat and humidity and helps the bread to rise faster.

I do what you are suggesting. I turn the oven on low, let it get warm, let is sit a few minutes and then put the bread in to rise - with a towel over it. I also keep the oven door open.

Usually this works well

B. Louise has a good idea. I'll try that next time I make bread.

I use quick rise yeast and a little extra in the winter mine is slow too. I do turn the oven on to warm and put the pan on top covered with a towel.

We run a/c here almost all year long. On colder days, I preheat my oven to about 200, turn it off, wait a few and raise my bread in the oven. It's draft free and warm. Just don't cook it during the rise stage.

I set the oven to warm and reheat it - I think it is 170 degrees. I then put the dough in the oven on the center rack, covered with a damp towel. The wet towel keeps the dough from drying out.

Good luck.

I've used a heating pad covered with a towel underneath or over the bowl which is covered.

Keeping your liquids warm also helps the bread rise faster but not too hot to kill the yeast. I like to turn my oven on just a little bit then place bread in to rise, also like to have the surface of the bread well greased and covered with wax paper. Good luck.