Hello Fellow bakers, I'm in a bit of a dilemma here...

I know I'm supposed to let the bread dough rise and sit for a while and provide a warm moist environment for the yeast to do their job.. but I don't have a warm aprtment, and I could only wrap it in wet towels so many times! Do any of you have any tips on making it rise faster?

Turn your oven on low (about 200F) for a minute to warm up, then turn it off and pop the covered bowl in to rise. Works like a charm!

YUP. The oven is a good place. Aren't gas ovens already a great temperature even without turning them on? It has been awhile since I cooked with gas so I don't remember exactly. I think my pilot light used to be enough to keep it warm inside for dough.

Sometimes I put it in the microwave. Not turned on or anything but just as a space to keep it out of drafts.

Another way is to put it in the oven, turned off, with a bowl of boiling water on the base of the oven. That works for me. If you have an unreliable oven, it can get too hot and kill the yeast, the above way is safest.

If you have a car and its outside, you can put the covered bowl in the car. I used to do that, but now we don't have a car It was the greatest place to rise bread though!!!

Room temperature, even cold room temperature, will be fine to raise you bread, you might just need to wait a little longer. You can even rise dough in the refrigerator overnight.

All good suggestions which I'm going to try out!

Here's another: cover the bowl with clingfilm. I live in a draughty house and that keeps it snug.

Or put it, covered, on top of the refrigerator...seems counterintuitive, but since heat rises and your fridge has to use some energy to keep the inside cool, its a relatively warm place.

I always use my oven - put on warm for a minute, then turn off and put in the bread dough.

Also, make sure your water is warm enough to start...your dough should still be moderately warm when you put it in to rise.

Amanda

Thanks guys! I was having so much trouble getting it to rise! I