Thanks Teresa. terrapots - It sounds like you used the correct yeast, but you may have: a. Over-proofed the dough (allowed it to rise more than double) during the first rise (bulk fermentation) and it didn't have any "umph" left for the final proof after it was panned - especially since you didn't have any oven spring to the loaves. If the dough is under-proofed, you generally get oven-spring but the sides will shred (crack open). b. Allowed the dough to rise in a temperature that was too warm, thereby killing some of the yeast. Do you pre-heat the oven for a bit and then put the dough in the oven to rise during the 1st rise? It's easy to have the warmed oven TOO hot when using this method. Most people don't check the internal temperature of the oven. When you place the dough into the oven, the yeast on the outside of the dough will quickly die if the ambient temperature 140°F or hotter. The temperature should be below 90°F. If you use your oven for a proofing box, just use the light in the oven for warmth (turn it on to warm the oven when you first start making your bread) and check the temperature. In my oven, it's between 80°-85°F on the opposite side of the oven from the light - which is a great temperature for dough rising. c. Your yeast may not be active. I once purchased a new package of SAF-Instant Yeast that was well before the use-by date that wouldn't rise at all. When you use bulk yeast, it's good to test it. Especially if you don't use it very often and it's in storage a long time. To test yeast: In a 1-cup glass measuring cup place 1/4 c. warm water, 1 t. sugar, 1-1/2 t. yeast. Wait 10 minutes. If the yeast is active, the mixture should be up to the 1/2 c. line. If the rise isn't to the 1/2-cup line, then you know the yeast isn't active enough to raise dough to double. Helpful hint: when proofing yeast in water/sweetener, add the yeast to the water, not the water to the yeast. The activity of water being dumped on the yeast can actually kill some of them. If you vigorously stir the mixture, you can kill some of the yeast. If you're like most people you use a slant-sided bowl for the dough to rise in. The slanting sides is an inaccurate way to judge when the dough has doubled. It's much smaller on the bottom of the bowl and gets larger as it goes up. It's easy to under- and over-proof dough in a slant sided bowl because you're not exactly sure what or where "double" is. And once again, dough doesn't know how to tell time, so the instructions in the recipe for rising times is just a good (or bad) guess. I'd suggest using a dough rising bucket to help gauge when dough has doubled in the first rise. You can find them at restaurant supply stores or on-line from King Arthur Flour or other on-line sources. They call them food storage containers at restaurant supply stores. They come in both square and round models at the restaurant supply stores - I have some of both. I normally use a round 2-quart size (usually 2-1/2# dough), but I have them in several sizes for larger amounts of dough. As long as it has a tight fitting lid and straight sides, you're in business for a dough rising bucket. It's the perfect environment for dough rising. No drafts, hold and provides it's own moisture, etc. If you happen to have an empty plastic ice cream bucket, that would work. The dough rising buckets/food storage containers have graduated measurements on the side, which makes it nice to use. If you use another type of straight-sided plastic container that doesn't have measurements on it, just use a ruler to measure the dough. Handle the dough with oiled hands. Pat it into the bottom of the plastic container and put on the lid. Measure where the dough is up the side of the container with a ruler. Take that measure and double it and place a piece of masking tape there - make sure you remember (or mark) whether the top of the tape, or the bottom of the tape, is where the dough will be double. When the dough rises to that mark, that means the dough has doubled in bulk. If the dough measures 1-1/2-inches, then it's double at 3-inches - if it measures 2-inches, then it's double at 4-inches, and so on. You can place the dough in the dough rising bucket in the oven with the light on, as a nice warm spot for the dough to rise. Start checking the dough to see how much it's risen after 20-25 minutes. It may only take 30-minutes to double. -Grainlady

If you strike out at your store, does your area have any places like Smart and Final or Cash and Carry - non-membership stores that serve as restaurant and small businesses supply? Another option would be to order from King Arthur - the one pound is about $5 and the 2 pound ~$10 but I don't know what shipping would be. Possibly even with shipping it is cheaper to buy it in the bulk pack than getting the 4 oz jars or packets at the grocery store. to take the yeast right out of the freezer and put it in with the flour I take it right out of the freezer to use in the bread machine, mixer or by hand and it rises fine for me. The yeast mass is small enough compared to the water mass that I doubt it makes much difference to the temperature of the two when combined if the yeast starts out at room or freezer temp. Did you really mean that you put it in at the same time you add the flour? When I'm using the bread machine, the first thing I do is to add the water and then sprinkle the yeast on it. That gives the yeast a few moments to start dissolving while I get out the flour and anything else I'll use. I'm not sure that is necessary but possibly if you add the yeast and flour at the same time, the flour is grabbing too much of the water and the yeast isn't dissolving so it can start working. What kind of water are you adding? I always use the filtered water tap so there isn't chlorine which might interfere with the yeast. I don't know if that is as important for non-sourdough breads, but it might help. To get warm water for bread in the bread machine, I use about 1/4 to 1/2 from the instahot tap and the rest from the filtered water tap (depending on the time of year - I always check that it is not to hot - i.e. comfortably warm to the touch because one time my bread didn't rise and I think it was due to the water being too hot). It is probably better to err on the side of too cool than too hot for the water - especially in the bread machine which will heat things up anyway. I never cook the dough in the machine (or almost never - one time I forgot to select dough cycle and it cooked in the machine by accident). I prefer to form the loaves myself and cook in the oven. But depending on your machine, it may have different cycles or let you set up a custom cycle to allow for a longer time between kneading and baking to allow for a type of bread that needs longer to rise.

I had heard about the NY Times bread recipe when it came out a few years ago, so googled it and found the following: Recipe: No-Knead Bread 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting teaspoon instant yeast 1¼ teaspoons salt Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed. 1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees. 2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes. 3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger. 4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack. Yield: One 1½-pound loaf. From: Newsvine.com, here is a review, by someone, of this recipe: I pretty much followed the instructions to a "T" with some very minor adjustments stemming from comments that I read in other reviews. Friday Night, 7:00 PM: Mixed together bread flour, yeast (Fleischman's rapid rise), salt and water in a non-reactive bowl, covered with plastic wrap and placed the whole kit n' kaboodle in the oven, leaving it there overnight and through the next morning. Saturday Afternoon, 1:30 PM: Heavily dusted my work surface with flour, poured the dough onto the surface, heavily dusted the top of the dough with flour, and following Alton Brown's instructions for "punching down" dough, performed the wallet folding pattern three times. I let that rest covered with plastic wrap for fifteen minutes. Saturday Afternoon, 1:46PM: I rolled the dough into a "ball", and placed it on a sheet of heavily dusted parchment paper instead of a towel, and let it rise for 2 hours. *Note: the dough didn't really hold a ball shape, but rather looked more like an in-the-dough reincarnation of Jabba-the-Hut. Translated: it was little more than an amorphous blob, which I covered with a towel, nevertheless. I set the timer for two hours, over the course of which the dough spread moreso than rose. Saturday Afternoon, 3:16 PM: I placed my 5.5 qt. Le Creuset enamel coated cast iron Dutch Oven in the oven and preheated both to 450-degrees. Saturday Afternoon, 3:46 PM: When the timer went off signaling the expiration of the two hours, I carefully removed the very hot Dutch Oven and placed it on the counter. I dumped the dough blob from the parchment paper into the Dutch Oven and wearing oven mitts, covered the pot with aluminum foil, since the metal replacement knob that I ordered to replace the plastic one that came on the dutch oven lid -- and is only rated to 375 degrees -- had not yet arrived in the mail. My preference here would have been to use the lid that came with the pot. I baked the bread, covered (with foil) for 30 minutes, removed the foil and baked for anther 20. I then removed the pot from the oven and dumped the bread onto a wire rack where I let it cool for one hour before slicing. The bread turned out great, very crusty, very artisan. I will definitely make it again. The main thing is to remember to start it the night before, else there will not be enough time to develop the glutens and more complex flavors as fully as necessary to make for a great loaf of bread and still get the bread baked at a decent hour. The recipe can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

I haven't made these but they sound very good and easy too. Melt In Your Mouth Doughnuts (Made With Canned Biscuits!) 1 ten count can Texas style doughnuts (or your preference, just not flaky layers) 1 Cup Sugar 1 1/2 T cinnamon 1 stick margarine, melted Vegetable Oil For Frying Pour oil into skillet to the depth of a little less than 1/2 an inch and heat on medium to medium high for about five minutes. In a bowl, melt margarine. In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar. Using a plastic bottle cap, cut the center out of each biscuit. Drop dough into hot oil, watching carefully and turning when golden. Once doughnuts are golden on both sides, remove to paper towel lined plate. Repeat until all dough is cooked, including doughnut holes. Dip both sides of each doughnut into melted margarine, then press both sides into cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm. Quick and Easy Jelly Filled Doughnuts 1 can biscuits (make sure you don't get the flaky layers type) 1 can store bought frosting (vanilla, so you can tint it) Vegetable oil Jam, jelly, or preserves Sprinkles Pour oil to a depth of about 1/2 " in a large skillet. Heat on medium to medium high for several minutes, until oil is good and hot. Drop biscuits into oil and turn when they brown, this will happen very quickly. After they are browned on both sides, remove to paper towel lined plate. Place jam into bag equipped with icing tip. You can also use a syringe or just use the jelly bottle (if you got the squeeze variety). Stick the tip into a doughnut and gently squeeze. Repeat with all doughnuts. Place 1/2 can of frosting into bowl and add a few drops of your favorite food coloring. Stir well. Heat in microwave for about thirty to forty five seconds, to make a glaze. Dip the top of each doughnut into the glaze and set aside to dry. Top with sprinkles.