You don't put the damp towel "on" the dough....but rather across the top of the dough bowl.
Dough will rise if it's going to....it will pop the lid off of a covered dish.
If your dough isn't doubling, perhaps your water was too warm and you killed the yeast....or maybe you need to wait a little longer.
Linda C

Just don't cover it with a damp tea towel then. Although I'm surprised that a tea towel would interfere with the dough doubling. I bake a lot of bread and never cover with a tea towel. I sprinkle the loaves with flour and loosely drape with plastic wrap.

Ann

Using a "damp towel" can actually cause more problems than solutions and is not generally an acceptable method. It's NOT necessary to speed up the rise of the dough. Dough rises according to the moisture level, yeast strength, and ambient temperature. Adding moisture from the damp towel can actually cause too much moisture to be absorbed by the skin of the dough and it can affect the rise. Possibly what you've experienced. The overly-hydrated dough will get all wrinkly, like when you've had your hands in water for a long period of time.

Heavy towels/cloths can also weigh-down the rise and can also absorb available moisture and cause the skin of the dough to dry-out, which will keep it from rising properly.

Plastic wrap (which is lightweight, see-through, and holds moisture in better than a cloth) is a much better choice than wet OR dry towels/cloths. It's the 21st Century Up-Grade.

What I suggest when teaching bread classes, in order to help prevent over- or under-proofing dough, is to use a dough rising bucket (aka dough doubler). When you pat 1 quart of dough into the dough rising bucket, snap on the lid, no other covering is necessary. It's the perfect environment for rising dough because it maintains the moisture level and prevents drafts that dry the dough out. When the dough reaches the 2-quart mark (remember, you started with 1-quart), you KNOW it's doubled. No poking it with a finger to test it for "double", no playing peek-and-boo while covered with a cloth, no inaccurate guessing about "double" because it's in a slant-sided bowl.

The link below shows a dough rising bucket. I get mine at a restaurant supply store for a lot less than King Arthur sells them for. They are called food storage containers, and you can pick from round or square. Just make sure it has a tight-fitting lid and STRAIGHT sides. You can also make one for yourself out of a large plastic ice cream bucket or other similar plastic container. In order to measure in a recycled bucket, just pat the dough into the bottom of the container. Using a ruler, measure where the dough comes up to and then double that measure so you'll know where "double" is. Mark "double" with a grease pen, removable marker, or piece of tape (just remember if the upper side or the lower side of the tape is "double". I normally use a 2-quart size (for up to 2-1/2# of dough), but I have larger ones for larger amounts of dough.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: King Arthur Flour - Dough Rising Bucket

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I have learned so much from you! I am at step #3 in the recipe where it says:

"Place 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Make deep diagonal slashes across loaves every 2 inches, or make one lengthwise slash on each loaf. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes, or until doubled in bulk."

So I do not have my dough in a dough bowl anymore, but on a cookie sheet. I will try the plastic wrap with a little flour on top of the dough as suggested.

Thank you!

I've never heard of slashing the loaf and letting it rise until double. I slash the loaves at the last minute, just before they go into the oven.

Ann

ann, on this recipe, one time I did forget to slash the loaf before it rose and I did it just before I put it in the oven and it deflated it. I guess I slashed it too deep. Oh I have so much to learn...

I see a couple of problems with that recipe. The amount of yeast for one thing. Normally, for that amount of flour, one would use closer to 2 or 2.25 teaspoons yeast. Seems to be a hair too much liquid for the amount of flour (was the dough really sticky?). Too much liquid in proportion to flour means that the bread will rise, but won't have the protein to sustain the structure, so it will fall at some point--either near the end of the cooking process or during cooling--and you'll end up with a brick. And the rising time. With a full package of yeast (2.25 teaspoons) rising often takes a good hour, sometimes more. When recipes call for less yeast, they generally need more rising time.

Honestly, I think the problem is more in the recipe.

A few tips, though. When proofing dough, I spray the surface with cooking spray, then lay a sheet of plastic film over it, sealing it against the sides of the bowl, so no air reaches the dough to dry it out. It will rise and take the plastic up with it.
Rising times are always just estimates--in your own kitchen, it may take more or less time. It's far more important to heed the definition--'until double' or whatever your recipe states. Even if it takes longer for the product to rise.

And the slashing--that, too, makes me think that recipe was written by someone who: a) either didn't test the recipe before publishing it, b) didn't know what they were doing or c)--both. Slashing is generally always done just as you put the bread in the oven.

Oh, you said something about 'wrapping' the shaped loaves in plastic--hope you didn't mean that literally. Once the loaves are shaped, you don't want to do anything to distort them. Just drape a sprayed piece of plastic film over the top, leaving them plenty of room to rise under it.

I've found recipes that say to slash before rising and some that say slash after. I find that if I slash before rising it doesn't look as nice because the bread rises and the slashes spread apart.

I never use a damp towel to cover bread dough, I dust the dough with flour and cover with dry towel. I should "upgrade" to plastic wrap, but I haven't for a couple of reasons. Mostly it's because it's reflex for me to take a clean towel from the drawer and drape it over my bowl. The other is that the one time I covered shaped loaves with plastic wrap I forgot to dust with flour or spray the plastic wrap with PAM and the dough stuck to the plastic and deflated the loaves, LOL. I let them rise again, and then baked, but I went right back to the towel method, which I'm comfortable with.

Annie

I'm a complete novice at breadbaking but here's what has worked for me so far. I use a dry towel. I eyeball the "double" in size. I figure a little bit more or a little bit less won't make that much difference. And I use the proof setting in my oven for rising which works beautifully.

Two things I learned on this forum:
1. Using the proof setting on the oven as I mentioned.
2. Bread is very forgiving and not an exact science.

Oh, and I should add...
3. The experienced bread bakers on this forum have posted some wonderful recipes - that's a great place to start if you're learning.

I went back and looked at the recipe and the ingredients don't seem wrong to me. I have a double batch of dough for Baguettes in the fridge and I used 3 1/2 teaspoons for just over 8 cups of flour. And a lot more water.

Many breads are made from "wet" doughs and they don't collapse when baked.

Julia Childs French Baguette recipe gives the dough two rises before shaping and the last rise the dough rises 2 1/2 to 3 times its size rather than just double.

There are a lot of variations in different bread recipes and it has been pointed out many times before that bread is very forgiving and it is difficult to really screw up. I suspect that the biggest mistake made is using water that is too hot which kills the yeast.

Ann

I agree, Ann, the recipe looks fine to me. Some doughs are very wet and they "spread out" if I just put them on a baking sheet, but they don't fail to rise, they just spread out wider than I expected.

There's plenty of yeast in that recipe, and my dough will rise under a towel without problems, so the temperature of the water and the age of the yeast would be the first culprits I'd check.

Annie

Just got the bread out of the oven and thanks to all of you, it turned out good. You talked about water temp--I think I have read that 110 degrees is good. What do you think?--and do you use a thermometer each time?

Thank you to all of my wonderful teachers!

Trudy, Congratulations on your bread.

I think it is better to error on the cool side than the warm side when it comes to the temperature of the water. I don't proof yeast and I use cool tap water rather than warm.

I think if you are using a machine to knead, ie.. bread machine, KA Mixer, magic mill, food processor, etc.. then cool water is better because the machines tend run warm.

Ann

I don't take the temperature of the water either. In the bread machine I just dump it in cool, mine has a "preheat" cycle. If I'm doing it by hand I stick my finger in it, if it's warm (about like a baby's bottle, remember shaking those onto your wrist?) it's good. Now Makayla will touch the water and say "Grandma, it's too warm". She's usually right, kids seem to be more sensitive to the warmth I think.

I also never proof yeast. I use so much of it that it never has time to get old.

Annie

Even when I am not suing the cuisinart or a mixer to knead,t he temp of the water is more like 100 degrees....blood temperature...like a baby's bottle

As to the amount of yeast....as little as 1/2 teaspoon of yeast will raise your bread.....just takes longer.
Linda C