After yeast dough has risen, you need to gently punch it down and knead it a few times to release the gases created by the yeast. Next, shape the dough into a ball and let it rest, covered in plastic wrap or an inverted bowl, for about 10-15 minutes before proceeding.
Let it stand until you see plentiful foaming, about 5 – 10 minutes. If it's not nice and bubbly after 10 minutes, throw it out and try with new yeast.
If dough is left to rise for too long, it will cause issues with the taste and appearance of the bread. Excess fermentation occurring in either the first or second rise can lead to a sour, unpleasant taste if the dough gets left for a long time. Over-proofed loaves have a gummy or dense texture.
Yeast doughs do both in the rest period after they are kneaded. Unyeasted, glutinous, doughs only have to rest so they can relax and be worked with. In a tortilla recipe, if you are rolling the tortillas out by hand you will find it much easier to do if the dough has rested.
To activate dry yeast, you'll need to leave it in a bowl of warm water (100–110℉) mixed with a pinch of sugar for 10–15 minutes. You can also use warm milk if you nix the sugar. Yeast is used in baking as a leavening agent, meaning it makes cakes and bread rise.
If there is no foam, the yeast is dead and you should start over with a new packet of yeast.
If the mixture isn't bubbly, the yeast is no longer good. Dump out your mix, and start with fresh yeast. Unfortunately, there's no way to revive old yeast.
Regardless of the type of yeast you use, if your water reaches temperatures of 120°F or more, the yeast will begin to die off. Once water temps reach 140°F or higher, that is the point where the yeast will be completely killed off.
What is this? Dead yeast will look yellowish or brownish in water. When yeast is first added to water, it will sink to the bottom of the container. After a few minutes, you may see bubbles rising to the surface as the yeast consumes the sugar in the water.
What to look for in an over proofed loaf. Similar to the signs of over proofed dough, an over proofed loaf will be very flat, without much rise or retention of shaping. Over proofing destroys the structural integrity of the bread, so loaves that have gone over are unable to hold their shape in the oven.
Step 1: Perform the fingertip test to make sure your dough is overproofed. The test involves gently pressing your finger into the surface of the dough for 2 seconds and then seeing how quickly it springs back. The dent you make will be permanent if the dough is overproofed.
Mild yeast infections may clear up in as few as three days. Sometimes, they don't even require treatment. However, moderate to severe infections may take one to two weeks to clear.
While underworked dough can simply be fixed by a little more kneading, severely overworked dough cannot be fixed. Instead, the overworked dough will result in a hard loaf that will likely not be eaten. It's important not to overwork your dough and continually check for overworking throughout the kneading process.
It is possible to leave bread dough to rise overnight. This needs to be done in the refrigerator to prevent over-fermentation and doughs with an overnight rise will often have a stronger more yeasty flavour which some people prefer.
Re: Delay in pitching yeast
It's better to wait 12 hours and pitch at the proper temp (below 70 for most ales) than to rush pitch into a warm wort anyway. I wouldn't suggest going much longer than 12 hours but I have gone as long as 24 without any problems.
Mixing it with liquid that's too cold or hot.
Yeast is very particular and works best at temperatures between 70°F and 80°F. If you mix it with very hot or boiling liquid, you'll kill it, and if you mix it with cold liquid, it won't be warm enough to get it moving.
And if you use dead (or dying) yeast in your bread, it won't rise. Another reason yeast might not work—you may have killed it by using overly hot water in your recipe; water hotter than 139°F will kill yeast.
Don't stress over liquid temperatures! If the liquid is comfortably warm for you to touch, you will not kill the yeast. Yeast begins producing CO2 as soon as it is activated and continues until the dough is baked in the oven. When the dough reaches 140˚F in the first few minutes of baking, yeast activity ceases.
A small amount of room-temperature or slightly warm water works best. Once foamy, stir it with a spoon or a fork until the yeast is completely dissolved. It should be smooth and silky and you can carry on with the rest of the recipe. You do not need sugar to activate the yeast.
If the water is cold, the yeast still produces carbon dioxide gas, but at a much slower pace. Bakers sometimes let dough rise in the refrigerator for one to three days. Because the yeast works slowly at cold temperatures, it has more time to create lots of special molecules that add flavor to the dough.
If you pitch yeast into hot, 85-90°F wort, some of the yeast may die and you may end up with a beer that exhibits some awful off-flavors.
Heat things up. Warming up the carboy is probably the most reliable way to restart a stalled fermentation. Some yeast strains are more temperature sensitive than others and may require some warmth to complete the job.
A warm, humid environment makes dough rise faster by speeding up the fermentation process in the dough. Take a small bowl or a glass. Add yeast and some sugar and pour some warm water (not hot) and mix it well until the sugar dissolves completely. Then let it rise for at least 15 minutes.