Hi guys,

I just got a copy of the Bread Bible and am totally loving how Rose explains everything- the hows and whys- in such details. I haven’t had much experience in bread baking and baked my first loaf (the White Soft Sandwich Loaf) from the book a couple of days ago. I’m pretty sure my dough rose too much during the final rising (although i made sure to not let it rise more than double its initial size) as the top collapsed slightly while baking. Although the loaf was really tasty, soft and gone within three days of making it,  i would like to know what to watch out for while the dough is rising to prevent this from happening again.

I’ve read Rose’s suggestion to do the finger press test. I’m not sure what she means by “it fills up slowly”. How slow is slowly? I’ve tried making indent immediately after shaping the loaf and the indent doesn’t fill up so i’ve no idea how to tell when the dough is fully risen after leaving it to rise. Any help here would be much appreciated. Thanks so much in advance guys

welcome to the baking world!

best to tell by volume.  If the recipe says to rise until it has doubled, then pay attention to the size from the beginning and mark or draw yourself a imaginary picture how much bigger is the doubled mark.

the finger test is done at the moment prior to baking, when it has reached the desired volume (doubled on this example).  If the finger indentation remains after about a minute, then the dough has risen too much, so next time for the same recipe and same flour rise it to less volume.  if you finger-indent your dough after shaping it, before it has risen, the indentation remains always!

Ah, i get it now. Thanks so much for your quick reply, Hector. You make such gorgeous cakes!