Hello - and a rookie question....

Hi David,

Did you follow a given recipe? More details would be helpful.

Was the amount of yeast given for fresh yeast and uou used the same amount of instant yeast? (Just a thought)

Wholewheat breads can sometimes develop faster than you expect.

Juergen

Nice to hear from you.  Thanks for writing.  I know little about bread machine usage, but I do know a little about how best to learn from this site.  You've started well by asking the community.  You'll likely get a lot from the answers.  Let me add somethings:  remember to use the search function before you ask your questions because you'll get a lot of answers there more quickly; learn from a text book rather than from a cookbook because texts take you from the very beginning in a more organized fashion helping you to make sense of bread baking in an organized way (I recommend DiMuzio's Breadbaking over the other wonderful but larger texts like Hamelman's); watch all available videos, on this site and Youtube, on your subject and others as they become relevant; read The Fresh Loaf home page regularly; and finally, find a local mentor who shares your interest in bread baking and who would be willing to show you some moves, answer your questions, and generally give you hands-on experience.  To find a local mentor, post your location on the Home page and ask.  Maybe your mentor lives on your block!

Above all else, practice, practice, practice.  Then post your successes and failures for comment, just as you did.  We've all been there.

David,

You didn't give us enough information to be able to say what happened. I suspect the dough maybe was to large for the container and then was over proofed and collapsed on itself. I suggest you stick with the recipes for that machine so you get the proper amounts for that size bowl/container. Welcome to the site.

Eric

Was salt part of the recipe? That could cause runaway fermentation.

Jim