Beastly Yeast

Today Mark and I went to lunch in Providence and met up with my mom and sisters at the Wrentham Outlets.  I had no interest in this place whatsoever because I hate shopping, but that was before I noticed all the cooking and baking stores!  In a whirlwind of shopping, I ended up witha lot of great deals on some fabulous things, including a spoon spatula, a cupcake corer, a frosting decorator, an avocado knife - and, my favorite purchase: a Le Creuset Dutch oven set!  I've wanted a Dutch oven for a while, but they can be pricey.  This one was on sale, and it even came with 4 little individual-sized Dutch ovens!  Not sure what I will do with them, but they are very cute.  They're all blue and beautiful and very exciting.

When we got home, I immediately set about looking up the recipe I've been wanting to try out once I got a Dutch oven: Dutch oven bread.  It actually bakes in the pot!  The real name is blooming herb bread, because you slice the top with a big X, and it "blooms" while it cooks and kind of looks like a flower.  Also, you can choose any herb you want to flavor it.  We had chives leftover from my potato casserole, so I tossed those in.  The only thing that was a bit weird about the recipe was that everything was in ounces... including butter... but I found out that 4 ounces is one stick, so that was okay.  Then the butter was supposed to be mixed with the herbs, but it never says how much herbs!  I just winged it and put in what looked like an acceptable amount.  I whipped up the dough quickly, and then waited for it to rise... and waited... and waited.  It's been an hour and a half now.  The recipe says to let it rise for 1-4 hours, which is quite a range, but by this time, it should look at least a little bigger!  I have made enough bread by now to know this.  I have a hunch that my yeast went bad; it was in a foil packet that I poured into a jar and kept in the fridge for a couple weeks.  I Googled non-rising bread dough, and cool temperatures or bad yeast are the culprits. To rule out cool temperatures, I am snuggling up with my bowl of dough for now.  If it rises, perfect, and if not, I blame the yeast and try again tomorrow!

Recipe:
blooming herb bread