why won't my yeast froth?

[hatwoman]

am totally mystified. tried Annabel K's method - didn;t work - tried the method on the ALlinson's pot with AK's quantities - didn;t work. went to supermarket to get some more - decided it had probably been open too long - still didn;t work - including using Allison's method and quantities. what's going wrong?

What temperature water are you using? If the water's too hot it will kill the yeast, if it's not warm enough it won't activate it.

thanks wwb - got it right finally - although I seemed to be making up quantites cos my recipe resulted in wall paper paste, rather than dough, But I was pleasantly suprised with the result - I'm new to bread-making (only attempt no 2) but am emjoying it

It's fab, isn't it - all that bashing and thumping the dough is very therapeutic!

best thing about it is its cooking the kids will do rather than constantly dip their fingers in and eat. managed to get it done all 3 of us with nary a harsh word! cakes no more, bread's the way to go...