The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

why is my recipe start failing now?

twnori's picture
twnori

why is my recipe start failing now?

Hi all, I've been making bread loafs with this recipe with lots of success. However, recently my bottle of instant yeast ran out so I bought a new bottle of the same brand. Ever since then, I'm having over proofing problems... The weather has been a little bit hotter recently but since I am using bread machine I don't think that could be the problem?

After buying the new bottle of yeast I accidentally left it outside for a couple days, I thought it could be the yeast problem so I went and bought a new bottle of yeast and kept it in the fridge at all times, still over-proofing. 

Why is happening?

 

FYI this is the recipe i use:

2 cups of whole wheat flour

1 cups of bread flour

1.18 cups of water

4 tbsp of olive oil

3 tbsp of honey

4 tbsp of dry milk

1 tbsp of vital gluten

1.5 tsp of yeast

0.5 tsp of salt

 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Salt amount in recipe is very low (under 1% of flour weight) too low to regulate and control the yeast so results will vary at the slightest temp rise or variable difference.  

Try going up to one teaspoon of heavy table salt if you prefer low salt (still under 1.6% of flour weight.)  More if using large crystal salt.

twnori's picture
twnori

oh man, that MUST be it! I just recalled that in the past few times I'm getting lazy and did not measure my salt (I just throw in a pinch), that totally explains why the result being so unstable. I will start measuring salt again (and add a little more for flavor) 

Will keep updated when I make a new loaf in a few days.

Thanks!!!

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

Be aware that the weather (temperature) makes a much bigger difference than you might think. If you browse these forums you'll probably find spikes in questions about "why is my usually reliable bread recipe failing now?" around the time that the season / weather / temperature changes wherever the poster is.

If you are using a bread machine the machine doesn't compensate for changes in room temperature, so the 'resting' (fermenting / proofing) time will not change even though the temperature is higher. I wouldn't be surprised if the dough is indeed overproofing. You could try to take the dough bucket out of the machine during the rise cycle and put it in a cooler spot, but you'll have to have it back in the machine before the 'punch down'  occurs (i.e. when the dough hook gives the dough a couple of turns to redistribute the gases and yeast). Probably easier to cut back on the yeast a little bit (and use the correct amount of salt!).