help from experienced bread bakers

[dovrar]

Hello to all the bread bakers. I've been making bread using primarily sorghum molasses that I get from a friend whose uncle processes it. Well, I ran out of molasses and subbed raw honey and the bread will not turn out. It's springy enough, but when I pull at the dough it just tears instead of being elastic. I'm not sure if it's because it's so humid today or if it's something about the switch in sweeteners. Any thoughts?

 

Thanks!

[IfIOnly]

Hmm. I baked bread for years with honey with no problem. Is it rising? Hopefully it will bake fine even though the dough is different!

[dovrar]

It did finally rise and I put it in the oven. I think it will be fine, but more dense than usual. It's so strange...the bread rose nicely the first time, but when I added more flour and kneaded it in it just didn't want to give me a "window". Ugh.

[PrincessMommy]

I used to make bread with honey all the time too without any issues.  I wonder if it was the humidity.   I make bread for our church's communion (not with honey).  Once the weather changed in June I have been having the worst time getting the rise to cooperate.

 

Also, I'm confused.. are you saying that after the 1st rise you add more flour and knead?  I've never done that step before so I don't know if it will have an affect.

[Pippen]

I'd suspect that it was a problem with the yeast instead of the honey. Out of date, or maybe too low of a water temperature when dissolving. Or too of hot water that killed off  yeast.

 

https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/yeast_temp.html

Edited August 7, 2016 by Pippen

[Carol in Cal.]

That doesn't sound like a sweetener problem, unless the honey is raw and has microorganisms in it that inhibit the yeast.

I am not familiar with kneading in extra flour for the second rise, though.  It seems to me that this would make the dough more stiff and make it have trouble rising.  I think I would try avoiding that addition, just in general.

[LostSurprise]

Perhaps the water content of the honey was different than the sorghum? That combined with a drier atmosphere or a slightly off (basically any non-weighing measurement) flour measurement would mean a denser product in general or a longer kneading time to get the same result. 

 

If it seems a bit dense while I'm kneading, sometimes I'll incorporate a little water and let it sit. Do you do an autolyse? Sometimes that time really helps prepare the dough for easier kneading.