>From: dap@cyberstreet.com (Darlene McKnight)
>Subject: Collapsed Bread
>
>Hi Verna, I've found when the bread falls in the bread machine that there
>is to much moisture in your mixture for the machine. If you watch the ball
>go round on the final knead cycle, it should barely be tacky to the sides
>of the pan inside. If it doesn't hold a firm ball then you need to add
>more
>flour, tablespoon at a time.
>
I tried a different technique than usual and had a collapsed loaf. I will
try again with a little less water.
I have been getting Krusteaze bread mixes, usually in a 6-pack assortment.
Usually, if I follow directions, I get good results.
This time, I wanted to use sourdough starter in my Zoji machine. I also
added yeast to get a good rise in order to avoid unpredictable behavior of
the sourdough yeast. In addition, I wanted to get the sourdough flavor.
To this end, I put about 1-1/2 to 2 Tbs of starter into the pan. I added the
recommended amount of water. I then added about half a cup of sourdough
bread mix and stirred it up. The hope was to get some sourdough flavor
before the main operation began. I added the remaining portion of the bread
mix of water and bread mix. To complicate things further, I used the French
bread cycle, and set the time to give me bread in the morning.
The result was excellent tasting bread, but greatly collapsed. I am somewhat
surprised that being that slight amount of deviation produced the collapse.
Any helpful comment would be appreciated.
Bill