Second rising for rolls...does the house need to be warm?

[Tigerpit]

I've got a breadmaker and today I've decided to make hot cross buns.

The dough came out of the machine lovely. I've divided it up as instructed, put the "rolls" on a lightly greased tray and left it for the designated 20 mins to "double in size". I should have known this wouldn't work - we're in an old house, with no heating on during the day and I'm a muppet for thinking all would be well.

20 mins later, nothing has happened. I've now got the tray on my heated clothes dryer, and will soon be popping in to check.

I'm curious - what is the correct temperature/time for bread to rise on a table?

The reason I got the breadmaker is because of the low temperature in our house (partly our choice, we don't like a hot house) and I got a bit bored of soda bread. This is the first time I've just made dough in it so I'm just feeling my way round the situation.

I often put mine in the fridge because you get a better flavour the longer the rise.

Really? So I could just leave them to sit for a couple of hours? Wow. I'm quite stunned at that. Can you tell how little I know about breadmaking. Thanks!

Some bakeries sell ‘overnight’ bread. This is made from dough that has risen once and then put into loaf tins and left in a ‘ retarder’ overnight. It is not quite as cold as a fridge but means that the dough rises very slowly and produces a better texture than bread that has been put in a warmer place. The bakers can then bake the bread the next morning and have it ready to sell first thing.

I suppose in a cool house you could shape the dough and leave it for a few hours to rise on the side. It is ready to bake when you gently press the top and it immediately pops up to its former level.

Yup, I sometimes make 'no knead' bread, which involves bunging the ingredients together, mixing them up very sketchily, then leaving it all overnight. The flavour develops better with a long, slow rise.

Reading Elizabeth David's book about bread and yeast cookery was the revelation for me about all this stuff. Not that this helps you right now - Sorry OP! Hope you had success eventually.

A warm oven is perfect if you need them to rise more quickly. Put it on the lowest setting for a few minutes, turn it off and then pop the buns in. Some might even have a proving setting.