Reviving grandma's kitchen trick for perfect yeast dough: You just need a fork

Yeast dough is often seen as one of the most challenging things to prepare. This, however, is a myth. All you need to do is adhere to the correct rules during the process of kneading, rising, and baking, and you'll be able to revel in fluffy pastries.

So, how do we bake the perfect yeast dough? If we're using regular cube yeast, it needs to be fresh: soft, lightly coloured, and with a distinctive smell. They shouldn't be used if they appear dry, cracked, hard, or give off an unpleasant smell. Your dough certainly won't rise with such yeast.

How do we ascertain if the yeast is fresh? One simple trick is to toss a piece into a glass of cold water and see if it floats. Floating yeast indicates its usability whereas if it sinks and stays at the bottom of the glass, it's not fresh.

Preparing leaven from fresh yeast is straightforward. Simply mix 50 grams of yeast with a tablespoon of sugar and two tablespoons of flour, then add just enough milk to achieve a creamy consistency. The temperature of the milk is vital; it should be mildly warm, around 25 degrees Celsius. It should not be too hot, overheating or boiling the milk will kill the yeast and your dough won't rise. Set the leaven aside and add it to the dough once it has doubled in volume.

The taste and presentation of yeast dough can be substantially improved with a handful of special tricks. Remember to cover the risen dough with parchment paper, it makes it even more lip-smacking. If you're adding crumble, lightly spritz it with cold water immediately after the rolls come out of the oven.

A lesser-known tip from our grannies when baking sweet yeast rolls involves setting a fork on the rising dough. This imparts a distinctive pattern and leads to a significant visual enhancement of the rolls, especially after sprinkling them with icing sugar.