Expert: Elyse Grau - 6/5/2009

Question
When I make Scottish baps they have always risen beautifully but the past 2 times have been terrible.  All seemed well until I shaped the dough & put the baps on to the sheet.  As the dough has its second rising, the dough took on a badly pitted appearance until they looked more like coral or the inside of an English muffin!  As they baked, the tops never lost their pale colour.  They came out very dense as well.  This has never happened before. What's going on??

Answer
Lesley:
I can't say I've ever seen the kind of reaction you seem to be describing, so I would just have to guess. It sounds a bit like it may just be rising too much. Perhaps you need to put them in the oven sooner. If they have risen too long, they will fall during the baking which could be causing the dense texture.

Do you have sugar in the dough? Maybe there is too much, which will cause the yeast to rise more. Is the dough wetter than usual? It really sounds like over-active yeast, that would cause the large holes that give it the appearance of an English muffin. where are you doing the rising? Perhaps it was too warm the last couple of times wherever you had the rolls.

Elyse