The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

why does my bread not rise properly?

karaman's picture
karaman

why does my bread not rise properly?

hallo,

new to forum and bread-making machine.

I do everything it tells me to make a simple white loaf but after three hours 10 minutes, it comes out about three-quarters the height it ought to be.  It is edible but somewhat heavier and more compact than the light and airy production i am expecting.  Have tried it several times carefully measuring the ingredients ----> with the same result.  i am using the recipe from the previous machine which went t*s up ( it saw me coming) as the new machine's stuff is unintelligible for a numtie.

Picture included.  What am i doing wrong?  ( I have to add am not much of a cook or baker, hence the machine)

suggestions welcome,

thanks, karaman

 

 

joc1954's picture
joc1954

I was using bread machine so many years ago but I remember having similar problems. I would guess that your bread is over proofed so you should probably use less yeast because in bread machine you can't simply change the timing of a certain program, Try to use only 75% of the yeast that you are using now and observe the results.

happy baking karaman,

Joze

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

You followed a bread machine recipe and it didn't rise properly. Easier to answer if made by hand so each step can be analysed. 

1. Are you using the correct flour?

2.  Correct yeast and, like Joze said, the correct amount? 

3. How exact are you with your measurements? 

4. Perhaps the old machine's recipes are not compatible with the new machine's settings. Why is the new machine's recipes unintelligible? Can we help you understand a recipe and would you like to run it by us? 

So some things to think about. Change one thing at a time to troubleshoot and be prepared to eat some less than perfect loaves till you've solved the issue. 

You can try one thing in the meantime. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice to the recipe and see what happens. 

Best of luck. 

Maverick's picture
Maverick

I would add... What machine are you using?

karaman's picture
karaman

thank you, i will try 75% yeast first as suggested by joc  then move on to lechem's solution, i like no4 best. will report back. thanks to both of you, help much appreciated. 

 

karaman

kbarb's picture
kbarb

I know this is back there a ways but maybe you're still alive . . .

I can't make out what is top and bottom of that loaf in the photo but anyway . . .

And I'm not an expert but I don't totally follow the replies.

Is the problem that the bread is rising enough, but then collapsing ?

Or is it that the bread is not rising enough ?

For myself, encountering problems with insufficient rising/proofing,

I used :

  • Rapid Rise (fast acting) yeast (not just Active type)
    And make sure your yeast is fresh - I had similar problems with tired yeast.
  • add one egg + 1/4cup flour because of the extra egg liquid
    For reasons I'm not totally clear on, the egg has solved a lot of rising problems for me.
  • warm water

All of those can cause over-proofing, and then a collapsed top, so you have to experiment a bit.

It does look like there might be some collapsing going on actually.

 

karaman's picture
karaman

oh so sorry for not getting back to you - went abroad and breadmachine went out the window....

i myself wasnt sure which was top/bottom of loaf, all i knew it didnt rise like it should have done. the thing is i cant really see how much it rises as i would have to open the top of the machine for that and that would have all the warm air escape.  no idea where to get 'fresh' yeast from, i get the stuff that comes in a small tin at the supermarket 'baking' section.

however, having tried all suggestions,  the one that did the trick was using COLD water. as soon as i started using cold water, it seems to have solved the issue.  how odd is that?  repeated the procedure several times and it works now.  am gonna be bold and start adding things like sesame seeds, etc.

thanks for everyone's help - if things go wrong again i can refer to all your solutions and take heart to soldier on...........

regards, karaman

kbarb's picture
kbarb

I'm glad to hear it's working out.

Yeast being a biological agent, will just be more active in a warm environment. So the warm water encourages it to rise more rapidly and to a greater degree, and cold the opposite. From what I've seen most recipes call for room temp water, but with some recipes, warm water can make it rise too fast, and the dough too weak, which can cause it to collapse near the end. But you can control a bit of the rising with the temperature of the water.

For yeast itself, I had a lot of problems getting my bread machine bread to rise until I switched to Rapid Rise/Instant yeast, which I can get a local food coop in bulk. It's on Amazon also, but I think it'd be better to get it locally, as it really should be under constant refrigeration, being a live culture. I put it in the fridge and leave it there as soon as I get it home.

For the amount, almost all my recipes call for 1-1/2 tsp yeast, for what's called a Medium size. Too much or too little yeast can also affect how much the bread rises.

Sounds like you're on a roll though.
;-)

ps: For my favorite go-to recipe, I add 1/.4cup sesame seeds.

karaman's picture
karaman

kbarb --- thank you for comments, will certainly have a go with your yeast when i get home to my matchbox granny-flat in october (probably  forgotten it all by then so will have to refer to this assistance)  -- sesame good for me too with sunflower seeds to boot. 

thanks again,

karaman