"Julie" wrote in message =
om...

Does leaving the dough to rise longer result in a lighter loaf?

Definitely!

I think that the volume of the finished loaf should be about five=20
times the volume of the unrisen dough. Sometimes the rising
dough poops out before it has risen very much, and avoiding
that occurrence is pretty much the name of the game when it
comes to light loaves, in the sense of not being dense.

I don't know if sourdoughs are supposed to be light or heavy....

I like light sourdough bread, but most people, I think, feel that
sourdough should be a bit dense. Sourdough rises more slowly
than yeasted dough, and there are more things that can go wrong
which would limit the amount of rise which can be obtained.

It is easier to get a good rise with conventionally yeasted dough
than with sourdough. That may be the reason that most people
feel that sourdough should be a bit dense. If you follow the usual
advice for sourdough loaves, they will probably be pretty dense.

--=20
Dick Adams
firstname dot lastnameat bigfoot dot com