I have a biga and a rye sourdough starter, and the results as of late have been extremely disappointing.  I'm following the book, "Rustic European Breads From Your Bread Machine," and early on, the authors state that a sourdough starter (one cup, as they described) can be added to any of the recipes.  When I try that, the dough turns out overly wet and generally unusable.  Do I need to adjust the water in a recipe once I introduce a starter like the authors suggested?  Thanks.

Very simply, here's the recipe for whole wheat bread that I've been making for years:

1.25 cups water

1/4 cup honey

1.5 tsp salt

2 tbsp canola oil

3 cups whole wheat flour

1.5 tsp yeast

1 tbsp vital wheat gluten

I've produced dozens of 1.5 lb loaves from this recipe, using my Williams-Sonam bread machine that's now 3 or 4 years old.  The bread is wonderful.

But the last six loaves have all been half-height, making them dense and not so tasty.  I've bought new yeast/honey/gluten/dough with no change.  Could it be the machine isn't generating enough heat?  How could I tell if this were so?  Any other suggestions on how to track down the problem?

Many thanks!

Whole Wheat Guy

This is the most delicious Bread that I have ever made:

The 1/3 cups of water added noticeably more moisture to the bread than the recommended 1 1/4 cups for 4 cups of flour.  Breads with the recommended amount were a tiny bit too dry.

Mixed Grain Juniper Berry Bread:

1 1/3 cups Water

2 cups Spelt Flour

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1 Cup Buckwheat Flour

3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 Teaspoons Sea Salt

4 Tablespoons Juniper Berries

1 1/2 Packages of Red Star Active Dry Yeast

I need some major help here...

I tried a recipe in the bread machine Welbilt convection for wheat bread with Quinoa.

The balance was totally off after I put all of my ingredients in that the oven shut off and didn't finish baking.

I ended up taking the luke warm gooey half baked bread out and popped the whole basket in the regular oven.

Could this turn even worse?

Please let me know if you have any experience with this.....here's what I put in the recipe:

Wheat flour

White Flour

Flax meal

honey

wheatgrass powder

olive oil

I'm starting to experiment with Beer breads. 

This was the first Bread that I made:

100% Whole Wheat Beer Bread:

1 1/4 cups Dark BrouCzeck Beer

3 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar

2 Teaspoons of Sea Salt

4 Cups of 100% Whole Wheat Frour

1 1/3 Packets of Red Star Active Dry Yeast

I produced a decent Dark Brown Bread with a slightly musky flavor.  The inside is very moist.

It didn't rise as much as I wanted but did form a Bread shape.

I am now making a second Beer Bread:

Whole Wheat Chestnut Bread:

1 1/4 cups Dark BrouCzeck Beer

3 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

6 chopped Roasted Chestnuts

3 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar

2 Teaspoons of Sea Salt

2 1/2 Cups of All Purpose (non bleached) Flour

1 2/2 cups of 100% Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/3 Packets of Red Star Active Dry Yeast

I'll post again later or tomorrow to let you know how it came out.

It is rising a lot more than the 100% Whole Wheat Bread.  It is going to be a big Bread.  I am hoping that the Chestnut Flavor will complement the Beer.

I've been making some good bread wit a Breadmaker using some stock recipies that call for Active Dry Yeast.  I have used Yeast designed fro Bread.

How would the results differ if I used Wine yeast instead?

Thanks

Good morning.  First post here

I've used my Sunbeam 5891 bread machine for about two years.  At least half the time, regardless of which recipe or ingredients I choose, the loaf collapses inside the machine within five minutes of starting the actual bake cycle

I've tried different yeast brands (both "normal" and "fast rising"), flours, temperatures, etc

Even basic white bread from several recipe sources will still look *great* until about five minutes into the bake cycle.  Then the entire top of the loaf falls down about 2 inches from where it was before it collapsed

Only exception:  if I bake "quick rise" bread, following machine recipes for those breads which are completely mixed, raised, and baked within an hour

Even contacting the Sunbeam bread machine help line, and following those suggestions (more liquid, less liquid, more yeast, less yeast, etc.) - no success

Can anyone suggest what's going wrong

Thanks.

Tom

I just bought a Sunbeam 5891 2-Pound Programmable Breadmaker and want to make smaller batches.. i am just baking for 1 person, and 1.5 to 2 LB's of bread is alot for me.. i'd just like to make one sandwich roll of varying recipes each day .. i'd also rather have everything done in the machine, rather than removing to bake in the oven.  is this possible?

I'm sorry this is so long. This is my first post here and I'm having some trouble with a new bread machine. I just bought a Zojirushi 2 weeks ago. It is not my first bread machine so I'm not completely inexperienced but I cannot make a decent loaf in this machine.

I only make whole grain loaves and I've been using King Arthur white whole wheat flour. I've proofed my yeast and it is fine. I normally add 1 tbsp gluten per cup of flour or 1 1/2 tsp of KA whole grain dough improver per cup. From the troubleshooting section of the Laurel's Kitchen bread book, I think my bread is overproofing. During the last rise and before baking, the top of the loaf has bubbles/blisters forming. After the bread comes out of the machine, as it is cooling, the top shrinks down and becomes wrinkled. The top is more open while the bottom is denser. I've tried using different recipes but the main recipe I've been using is one I used in my previous machine with no problems. 

At first the bread wasn't rising and had a flat top. A few times the top crust seemed to be separating from the rest of the loaf. When I tried to put it in the toaster, the top almost ripped off. I was using room temp water but after checking, the temp of the water was 60deg. I've since switched to using warm water from the tap. I've also tried using bottled spring water and warming it in the microwave but it didn't make a difference. The machine adjusts the kneading time based on room temp so the kneading time is anywhere from 13-18 mins including 3 mins for mixing but it generally uses the 13 min cycle. I didn't think the gluten was being developed properly so I programmed a cycle for 25 mins kneading time. KA suggests using the basic cycle for whole grains because the rising time is longer than the whole grain cycle. I went back to using the rising times for the whole grain cycle with the increased kneading time and this showed some improvement but the top still had a couple blisters.

I've called KA and Zojirushi for advice but didn't get much help.  KA told me to make the dough ball a little drier which I will try on the next loaf but I'm hoping someone here might be able to help me. I'd really like to be able to use this machine but I'm getting discouraged and ready to return it. 

This is my dilemma. We love homemade whole grain bread and LOVE the price of it versus artisan breads from the bakery. With kids and "life" making bread by scratch just doesn't happen like EVER even though I like it and have a knack for it. So, we bought a breakmaker 14 years ago. We used it a lot the first two years, but then stopped, because I couldn't stomach the texture. So, I gave the breakmaker to my best friend after it sat for at least 5 years without any use.

Skip forward a few years and I decide that if I have a mixer to do it (when I got the Electrolux DLX2000/ or Assistent), then we would have homemade breads. Guess what... I still don't make breads from scratch even with the machine, but I do use it for cakes and everything else .

So, last year I bought a Panasonic breadmaker on a super sweet deal on Amazon ($60 shipped). I have used it about once a week and well, my husband loves it, but my older son and I can't stand the texture.... two different breadmakers and the same problem. This past weekend I had the breadmaker knead the bread, and then I took it out and let it's last rise be in a basket mold, and then I put it in the oven to bake... guess what? No funny texture first day or second day... it's teh baking that does it, but HOW??? and WHY????

Now I'm an a quest to make the bread even better (crisper and chewier), but I'm still puzzled with the bread machine... why???