Why does homemade bread sink in the middle

A more fail-safe method is to just make dough, and go from there. Let the bread rise once in the bowl, then transfer it to a pan and let it rise again. Your 1-lb. Let's say the bread recipe you want to use calls for 6 cups of flour a typical two-loaf recipe. Simply divide the amount of each ingredient by three, and use one-third 6 cups flour becomes 2 cups, 1 tablespoon yeast becomes 1 teaspoon, etc.

If any of the ingredients seem way out of whack, be aware of adjustments you can make i. This may seem complicated at first, but by keeping the ratio in mind, as well as the relationship of the ingredients to one another, you can convert just about any bread recipe to the bread machine. Liquids include obvious things, such as water or milk, as well as anything which becomes liquid or semi-liquid when heated. Typical bread machine liquids include water, milk, buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, and soft cheese cream cheese, cottage cheese, feta, etc.

Relatively soft cheese, such as mozzarella, grated Cheddar or Swiss, etc. You may have used too much liquid in the dough. The dough should be smooth and soft. Or, you may need to adjust the amount of yeast; instant yeasts are stronger than active dry yeasts, so less is needed. If your bread machine has a french bread setting, try using that. If you reduce the oil or butter in your recipe you may get crispier results. Also, if the recipe calls for milk, try using water instead. You might try using chlorine-free water.

Also, check the expiration date of the yeast. If you determine that your yeast is good, make sure that you keep the yeast separate from the salt. If yeast and salt are directly on top of one another, the high concentration of salt can kill the yeast.

You may try increasing the oil or butter in your recipe. Also, try using milk instead of water. The cycle could be too short for the recipe causing it to be baked prematurely. If that's not the case, maybe too much heat may have escaped from the bread machine as it was baking. You should never open the cover of your machine while it is on the bake cycle.

Also, too many rich or heavy ingredients may cause the bread to underbake. Perhaps the dough is too dry. Try increasing the liquid if the dough appears dry during kneading. Or, your recipe may not call for enough oil in the dough. If dry whole grains were added, which takes moisture away from the dough, try soaking the grains first. Yeast is inactive in its dry form, but touch it with liquid and give it something to eat and it starts to work.

You want the yeast to stay dry till your machine actually starts its cycle, so a general rule is to use the flour in your recipe to separate the yeast from the liquid. It also is prone to over-eating; too much sugar in a recipe, rather than boost the yeast to greater heights, will slow it down to a crawl. Your machine will provide the draft-free environment yeast loves, neither too hot nor too cold. Many manuals suggest warming ingredients before putting them into the machine.

Some machines have a pre-heating cycle, which does this for you. The heat generated by the vigorous kneading raises the temperature of the dough sufficiently. Yeast likes an acidic environment. You can do this by adding a pinch of ascorbic acid vitamin C or by replacing some of the liquid with an acidic liquid a tablespoon of orange juice, lemon juice or vinegar.

What kind of yeast should you use? Use a good quality active dry or instant yeast, preferably bought in bulk which tends to be fresher, as well as much less expensive.

We prefer using instant yeast; either regular instant or instant gold for all-purpose bread baking, or special instant for sourdough or sweet breads. Instant yeast is a stronger, faster-acting yeast that performs particularly well in bread machines. As we mentioned before, this fermentation is creating acidity or sourness that, if carried to the extreme, would yield sourdough bread.

Bread dough that rises quickly has no time to develop flavor, and will be noticeably inferior, in taste, to bread that is given a longer rising time. How much sugar should you use in your machine?

This is where you need to learn the nuances of your own machine. No one kind of sugar is better for you, nutritionally, than another kind. Why do we use salt in bread? Basically, for flavor. You can certainly make bread without salt. Quickly made loaves generally prefer dryer doughs to avoid shrinkage. If your dough is too wet, lower the amount of water in the recipe next time. Baking for a little longer can also help solve the problem. To make a dough structure less moist in an open crumb structure instead of lowering the hydration of the dough, bake it for longer.

Use my guide on the ideal oven temperature for bread to see the perfect solution. A loaf with a crisp, set crust is more resistant to caving in as it cools. An artisan loaf needs plenty of time for water to soak the gluten. Awarding the dough more time to rest or adding an autolyse step allows it the gluten to. There will also be benefits from the increased amounts of organic acids and ethanol found in extended fermentation. This will strengthen the gluten and make the bread less resistant to collapse.

Bread can collapse if there is too much gas in a dough that is not mature enough. A weak gluten structure can create big irregular pockets of air through the crumb, sometimes called tunnelling. These are often found near the crust area which can cause the crust to sink as it cools. Reduce the amount of yeast used and increase the rise time, or knead for longer to fix the problem.

A weak crust causes bread to collapse. A common dilemma when commercially baking is when a new batch of flour arrives. The new flour makes the dough behave differently and can lead to more shrinkage or the bread collapsing. The type of flour used is also a key contributor to the chewiness of a loaf.

A strong crust comes from a well-developed dough. To achieve this, a flour with high-quality gluten which is well kneaded is essential. Sometimes lowering the water in the recipe can prevent recurrences. Otherwise, adding a little vital gluten powder or changing to a high protein bread flour can fix the problem. To control the rise of bread, shaping has a major impact.

Stretching the outer membrane to create tension will help a lot. This provides support for the dough as it rises. Poor shaping is especially prevalent in bread machines. Here, the bread often collapses as the dough is not shaped.

To find out more about shaping, see my shaping and preshaping guide. While this is not common in bread but mostly in cakes, there are some occasions where this can happen. Most commonly I see that people ask about the bread flatting and when I look at what kind of bread they make it mostly always points to bread that resembles cake batters.

This can also happen in high hydration doughs as well. I categorize bread by the leavening agents. This overmixing will usually cause a collapse in the middle of your loaf. The leavening agents used baking soda, baking powder or a mixture of both need a liquid in order to release their gasses. If you create a strong gluten mesh, in this case, it will only hinder the development of these gasses.

Mix your ingredients until they combine rather than trying to make your batter smooth. If we are talking about Yeast dough bread then your most likely issue is that you underbaked your bread. Do not be afraid to give your bread a longer bake with a dark crust. Bread can handle very high heat and will not burn easily as they have a lot of water in them.

The final internal temperature of a loaf of bread should be at least degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit. For doughs that have a fat and egg content to them the internal temperature will be a bit higher about — Celcius or Fahrenheit. As mentioned earlier many times your bread can collapse during this stage due to over proofing your bread especially sourdough bread or mishandling it being too rough with a high hydration dough.

In sourdough bread , this can also happen if your sourdough starter was not ready for use or past its peak. In order to know that your sourdough starter is ready for use, you should use the float test. Take a spoonful of sourdough starter and drop it into a glass of water. If it floats it is ready. Make sure to test out your sourdough started at least a couple of hours after you have fed it.

If you want to learn more about sourdough starter and how to make it yourself, click here for our a step by step guide. We worked super hard on it so you can have great results! Hi, my name is Amit. I started baking at a young age at my father's bakery. I hope I can answer some of your questions and hopefully you will find some hidden gems to help you out with your home baking skills. A fair amount of love and work goes into a great loaf of bread.

So when we get less than optimal Did you know that International Pumpkin Day falls on October 26th? With back to school Skip to content Bread flattening or collapsing is quite a common problem. There are 3 main reasons for your bread to collapse.