I mean to the T and it came out disappointing? Well that happened to me, just about now lol. I have family coming tomorrow and I'm making a meal for everyone. Part of that is a bread recipe I finish out in my cast iron dutch oven I just reseasoned. It didn't rise like they said it would. Swear I followed it.

All the time. Thats why you find other guinea pigs before doing "special" meals.

The key is to google "5 star" recipes. I always find them good.

It seemed so simple, that's why I tackled it. Ding dang, I'm not sure how I could screw up three ingredients, but apparently I did.

Fresh yeast?

care to post the recipe? or link to same?

I always have troubles making bread. In fact, my luck is so bad that when I visit my brother, even his bread fails miserably. So now when I come to visit, he makes it in advance!

i would say if your bread didnt rise you either didnt wait long enough, your kitchen was cold, you added to hot of water to your yeast, or your yeast was to old and was dead.

Fresh store bought yeast. Here is what I followed.

The only thing I seem to be able to follow a recipe for is disaster and ice. Lol.

Is your dutch oven bigger than the one shown there? if so, itll not rise as much do the bread having to expand more sideways than upwards.

Not sure Sniper. I just reseasoned my old dutch oven.

Try it again, maybe your water wasn't hot enough?

You have my curiosity up - I'm going to try this recipe now.

Cool Jim, let me know!

Got it started, mine doesn't look quite as sticky as the dough in the video. My water temp was 125 degrees that I used. She recommends not over 130.

Mines in the oven Jim. Guess we'll see lol.

Well, maybe I cried wolf because of ignorance lol. It rose higher in the oven and is now baking uncovered for 20 minutes.

I use yeast a lot. I wouldn't go over 110 degrees on the water.

very hot water kills yeast. body temperature water is plenty warm enough. if you took her at face value and let tap water get all the way hot that is the problem, i also think 1/4 teaspoon of yeast is not near enough. bread dough usually has a little sugar in it too to get the yeast doing its thing. p.s. never heard of letting bread raise all night.

To soften up bread crust you put butter on it as soon as you get it out of the oven and dump it out of the pan. All bread has a crunchy crust if you dont.


Gramma taught me to make bread. Dont really measure anything. Put some flour in a bowl. It should be room temperature so if its stored in a pantry bring it in the kitchen and let it sit awhile this time of year. Add in a little sugar. Not enough to make it sweet. A little salt. Melt some butter and put that in. You want water the same temperature as what you do a baby bottle. The same as your skin temperature. Not hot or cold. Start with a half glass . Add in a tablespoon of yeast and stir it up good. A tinfoil package is good too. You want to dissolve most if not all of it. Add it to the flour. Start mixing. You want it real thick. Like pie crust dough or pizza dough. Put flour on your hands and on the counter. Dump it out on the counter and knead it. You can add flour or water to get the dough right. It shouldn't be real sticky at all but it should all stick together in a big lump. You have to knead it for awhile. Put a dish towel over it and let it double in size in a warm kitchen. 80-85 is perfect. Knead it back down to its original size. Grease your bread pans and make loaves that fill the pan about halfway to the top. Let it rise again till it fills the pan. Bake at 350 45 minutes or an hour. Loaf will be golden colored and a bit hard on the outside. Dump it out on the counter and immediately butter the whole outside of the loaf. Top bottom and sides. That softens the crust. Let it cool. Heat up a jar of canned deer meat and cover a thick slice of it buttered. Better meal than you can get at the whitehouse.