OK. I put a bread mix in the bread machine this evening so I'd have a freash loaf in the morning. It was a Krusteaz brand Cracked Wheat bread mix. Simple enough. I put in my 1 cup of room temperature water, put the mix in, then the yeast. I used the Basic cycle for my 1.5 lb machine, per the bread mix recommendation. The Basic cycle on my machine is 3 hours, 50 minutes. I've had hit-and-miss success with mix bread in the past, so I stayed up to keep an eye on this loaf. I checked on it with about 1:30 to go, looking through the window - not opening the door. I could see that the loaf had fully risen, and was encouraged. However, when I looked back at it with only 0:30 to go, I was more than a little disheartened to find that the top of the loaf had collapsed. I went ahead and let it finish. I took it out just a few minutes ago, and it's on the cooling rack now. The loaf generally looks OK, except for the concave top.

So, what happened? I don't think it was bad yeast, since I know the dough rose properly prior to baking. I used particular care to ensure the water was right at 80°F, as I recently killed the yeast on a loaf by using water that was too hot.

In the meantime, I'm Googling the hell out of this, but so far haven't been able to find a decent link for bread failures or troubleshooting. Thanks in advance for any help, ridicule, irrelevant cartoons, grammar critique, speculation about my ancestry, pictures of tape measures or advice.

Shit.

You forgot the beer.

I hope that's the yeast of your problems

Yeast infection?

What the hell is this? Cookingforums.com???

Cripes, I hope nobody from DU sees this post.

Now shut the hell up and go buy a copy of The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart and please keep these women-like posts somewhere else.

Well, I found [url=http://www.breadmachinedigest.com/library/troubleshooting_chart.html]this[/url]:
(Note: I added the numbers for reference below.)
1 - Well, it [i]could[/i] have been a faulty mix, but I doubt it.
2 - See above.
3 - Uhhh ... nyet.
4 - See above.
5 - To quote [b]Searcherfortruth[/b]: "Nope!"
6 - Well ... maybe the water was [i]still[/i] too warm.
7 - Maybe.

Nope; I'm hammered! [booze]

Funny, [b]raven[/b]! Now go out and get some sun!

My wife says it might be the bread mix you are using. Sometimes they sit on the shelf too long. She has two bread machines and has her own recipies she uses. Did the mix call for oil? Also the wheat needs fresh gluten.

[Jose Jimenez]Oh, I hope not![/Jose Jimenez]

[BD]Ouch!

Thanks for the tip on the book, [b]Merrell[/b]; I'll look for it. In the meantime, though, I'll settle for Ordinary bread, when I can get it!

Perhaps. Thanks for the insight, [b]Mrs. Pantera[/b]Most people I know that make bread frequently do so from scratch. I recall that the 3-4 times I made bread in my machine from scratch with "fresh" ingredients, I had no problems. Hmmm...No, just water.Agreed, but it should have been in the mix.

Thanks again, [b]Pantera[/b] and [b]Mrs. Pantera[/b]!

No Viagra?

Male Lie #367: "I swear, Honey. This has [i]never[/i]  happened to me before."

COORECT!!

Yeast in mixes gets old...fast.  It's kind of like gunpowder...loses its flash after awhile so it doesn't rise correctly.

SGtar15

Tomorrow morning, I will go to the store and buy bread flour and fresh yeast. I will bake bread until I get it right, dammit!

Make sure to put in the liquid, then the mix, then make a little hollow in the mix to pour the yeast into.  This is especially important if you're cooking on a delayed setting, since the yeast will start to become active as soon as they hit liquid and may lack oomph once the baking cycle starts.

Most bread mixes will (or should) have an expiration date on the box or yeast somewhere.  Many times dough will appear to rise properly, only to collapse in the final stages of baking.  This has happened to me before when using an older mix.  Generally, I don't use any mix that has been in my pantry for over 6 months (and who knows how long it's been sitting on the store shelves!).

Go out and get the Hawaiian Bread mix.  That stuff is dee-lish.

i'm nominating this as the best response of the night

Thank goodness this topic has fallen off the front page, we should be talking about ammo and halftracks and gravel and other manly things.

Would you ever find a topic like "Survival Bundt Cakes" over on the survival forum?

I don't think so...

Now I understand why our Daughter inlaw returned the bread maker we gave her for Christmas

I've had bad luck with bread machines.  My success rate went from 60% with a machine to 95% using a mixer to knead and an oven to cook instead of an all-in-one machine.

And this topic IS important for gun owners.  If society collapses we will rule, and you will still want a sandwich, so you will need bread.

Good gravy, what's next? Tactical spatulas with collapsible stocks? MOLLE-compatible muffin pouches? Level IIIa aprons with optional trauma plates?

These are dark days indeed for ARFcom...

if you got the initial rise your yeast is good.  Your bread mix won't go bad unless it contains yeast also or uses self rising flour. I'm sure a commercial mix had the proper ratio of hi-gluten to whole wheat flour.
 Sounds like it over proofed-the gluten structure couldn't support the loaf.  Try baking sooner-you will get more rise(called oven spring) as the bread bakes.
 whole wheat breads will also be a little denser than a white-something to keep in mind when proofing.
hth, danny

I don't use a bread machine to bake my bread -- I bake it by hand.  That said, I have used bread machines quite a bit.  Two things that can cause a collapse are lack of gluten proteins and over-rising.  Since you are using a commercial mix, probably the gluten is already mixed appropriately, however, over-rising could have been your problem.  If the bread rises further than the proteins can support it, any jarring at all, and sometime baking, can cause it to collapse.

Baking sooner, as one other poster suggested, is a possible remedy.

Nothing wrong with un-levined(sp?) bread.[:D]

Bad food's a rising...  CCC

Maybe it has something to do with your genes ... huh?  what's that?  Oh [b]bread![/b]

Sorry, thought you said [b]breed[/b]


[;)]