Hey everybody. I need help Baking white bread. My first rise is great, and the second Rise in the loaf pan is good too. The problem is no matter what I try, when I put it in the oven to bake it, it looks good for a few minutes, and then it falls. I'm using bread flour and I've tried regular yeast and instant yeast. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I do live in Maine, so I'm wondering if the cold has anything to do with it. Thanks, John
If it's falling after you put it in the oven, it's not the cold that's the problem. You're probably letting it rise too high in the pan before baking. The dough can only handle so much expansion (how much it can handle depends on a lot of factors, including the type of flour, amount of water, and how you mixed it), and if you go past that point all the little bubbles in the dough will pop and the loaf will collapse.
Either that or not enough kneading. A cool temperature is not the problem.
TomP
What is the water %? That would explain things. Enjoy!
So for the record, I'm following a recipe online. I should say, that I have cut the batch in half, so I don't waste more flour and yeast until I have figured this out. I'm using bread flour, and my stand mixer to mix and knead. Am I letting the first rise go too long? Is that why the second Rise doesn't go much past the edge of the loaf pan? I have seen two schools of thought from everybody here and everybody that I talk to locally. Not kneading enough or overproofing. Or is cutting the batch in half my first mistake?
If the recipe is for two loaves, cutting it in half should not be a problem. Keep yeast under 2% by flour weight. There can be over-fermentation and/or over-proofing, which can cause collapse. The idea of underkneading is that gluten doesn't develop enough to support the loaf. How long is the machine kneading? Letting the dough rise in a straight-sided container, if you have one, makes it much easier to determine doubling.
The recipe called for letting the dough hook knead for 5 minutes. My first rise is in a steel round Bowl. My loaf pan is a 9x5 with some kind of non-stick off-white interior.
Five minutes in a mixer should be good. Are you familiar with the windowpane test?
I'm going with over-fermented and/or over-proofed, assuming low-protein flour is not the problem.
Well I'm using bread flour, so I assume that's the best choice. Or am I wrong? I think maybe I'm letting it rise too much on the first rise. I'm going to try a little less today.
Bread flour is good. Less bulk fermentation time is the thing to try. If you happen to have a little, straight-sided Rx pill bottle, put a small ball of dough into it, pressed down. Mark level with an elastic band and when it doubles, your bulk dough should be pretty close as well. Your pan size should be ok if the recipe called for 9" pans. If it called for 8", that will make a difference in the rise to expect in a 9" pan.