I bought a Breadman Plus last November and for several months (9, to be
exact) was very unhappy with the quality of the loaves it turned out. Most
of them rose well, then fell during the baking producing heavy loaves. I
used the machine everyday and tried every remedy known to bread makers. The
company insisted that there was nothing wrong with the machine. It seemed
most likely that the moisture content was too high in my dough. I decreased
the water drastically on all recipes; the dough seemed fine during the
kneading process (nice, smooth, round, unsticky ball), but all of the loaves
still were significantly undersized. Finally, I started weighing my flour
(instead of measuring), and I stopped using the "regular" cycle on the
machine. Now my loaves are consistent in texture and some are even pushing
on the lid. I now use the "Fruit and Nut" cycle. It turns out that this
cycle has a lower rising temperature (32C as opposed to 37C of the regular
cycle). The entire cycle takes approximately 40 minutes longer than the
regular cycle, but it is amazing to me that after all of these months and
trials, I can finally make consistent bread.
I write this in hopes that this will help anyone who is manufacturing
doorstops in his/her bread machine. The weighing seems to be verry, verrrry
important down here in New Orleans where the humidity is usually 80 - 100%.
Also, the lower rise temp on the Breadman Plus seems to be important. Donna
Rehberg (sp?) says in her book that she considers any cycle under 3 hours to
be a rapid cycle (I guess that for the regular cylces on the Breadman Plus,
one should use rapid rise yeast). Hope this helps someone who may be
struggling as I did for several months.