THE CRUMB INSTITUTE
HYDRATION 70.0 % DOUGH TEMPERATURE 24.1 °C BENCH REST 41 min
[NOTICE: THE BENCH WAS CHECKED FOR LEVEL AT 08:00 AND WAS LEVEL] — FLOUR STORE HELD AT 14.2 °C AND 51 % RELATIVE HUMIDITY — VESSEL PLACED AND TARED TO ZERO — 350.0 g OF WATER ADMITTED AT 21.4 °C IN A SINGLE CONTINUOUS POUR — SALT WEIGHED SEPARATELY AS SPECIFIED, 9.0 g — THE STIRRING WAS JUDGED TOO FAST AND WAS SLOWED — THE OVEN TIMER IS SET TO 38 MINUTES AND NOT TO 79 MINUTES — [NOTICE: THE BENCH WAS CHECKED FOR LEVEL AT 08:00 AND WAS LEVEL] — FLOUR STORE HELD AT 14.2 °C AND 51 % RELATIVE HUMIDITY — VESSEL PLACED AND TARED TO ZERO — 350.0 g OF WATER ADMITTED AT 21.4 °C IN A SINGLE CONTINUOUS POUR — SALT WEIGHED SEPARATELY AS SPECIFIED, 9.0 g — THE STIRRING WAS JUDGED TOO FAST AND WAS SLOWED — THE OVEN TIMER IS SET TO 38 MINUTES AND NOT TO 79 MINUTES —
CBI-2026-038 · published

On the resting of dough: the forty-one minute interval

Abstract

Dough was covered with a cloth and left on the bench. A ruler was placed against the vessel and the height of the dough recorded every five minutes for one hour. The dough rises quickly at first and then slowly. We fit a single exponential and report the time constant. Nothing else happens during this interval, and the paper is mostly about resisting the urge to interfere with it.

h(t) = h₀ ( 1 − e−t/τ ) h₀ = 41.0 mm , τ = 37.0 min , R² = 0.994 rise at 20 min: h(20) = 41.0 ( 1 − e−0.541 ) = 17.1 mm (42 % of total) rise at 41 min: h(41) = 41.0 ( 1 − e−1.108 ) = 27.4 mm (67 % of total)

Method

Fourteen doughs, one vessel, one ruler, one keeper. The cloth was lifted to take each reading, which took about four seconds and lowered the surface temperature by a measurable amount, so the reading was taken twice and the mean used.

Result

Total rise 38.0 mm over 60 minutes. Two thirds of it had occurred by minute 41, which is the interval the procedure specifies and which now has a justification attached to it.

Limitations

The fit is good and the mechanism is not established. We can say when the dough rises. We cannot yet say why it stops, and three of the fourteen doughs did not stop.

Time constant, τ
37.0 min
Fitted across fourteen doughs. Range 34.1 to 40.6 min.
Total rise
38.0 mm
Bench height, first reading to last, at 21 °C ambient.
Cloth lifts
14 × 14
Every reading disturbed the thing being measured. We report this.
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