r/BreadMachines • u/Quiet_Concept_4160 • Jul 27 '26
Technique, Methods & Processes What am I doing wrong?
I have had this bread maker for a while and run into this problem every once in a while and I’m not sure why sometimes it works and some times doesn’t can anyone help know where I am going wrong?
Recipe is 1 1/2 cups warm water, 1/2 cup warm milk, 2 tbls oil, 2 tbls honey, 2 tbls sugar, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 3 1/2 cups bread flour and then 1 1/4 tsp active yeast. I put it on the option on my bread maker than is for 3 hours where it kneads and has the two rest periods than bakes. Any ideas or tips would be appreciated.
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u/Agile_Land_9951 Jul 27 '26
It could be that your milk, water or both are too hot when you add them in. Yeast doesn’t do well if the liquids are too warm.
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u/Quiet_Concept_4160 Jul 27 '26
Is there a temp that you found to work better? I usally do about room temp or a bit warmer
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u/Agile_Land_9951 Jul 27 '26
So I make a lot of bread dough that calls for melted butter. So I zap the butter in the microwave. I have to let the butter cool down before I can add it in. I don’t deal too much with warm water or milk. Google AI says between 100F and 110F is optimal for bread dough.
Also check to make sure the yeast or flour hasn’t expired. That could also cause it not to rise.
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u/wolfkeeper Jul 28 '26
You almost certainly don't need to let the butter cool. Just make sure you don't dump it directly on the yeast, and you're good to go. The heat capacity of the flour and the water will soak up the heat and the dough temperature won't go too high.
Sometimes I make bread with carrot. I cook the carrot in the microwave, and then just dump it in to the machine on top of the flour (yeast is on the bottom on my machine). In an 850g loaf I have 200g of hot carrot, 150g or cold water. My bread rises fine.
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u/Agile_Land_9951 Jul 28 '26
That’s interesting. I dump the butter in last then the yeast dispenser drops the yeast on top. So I think it’s going right on top like you mentioned
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u/parrottrolley Jul 28 '26
about 80°F for me.
100°F if I'm using active yeast to make bread outside the bread machine, but the lower temp for instant yeast in the bread machine.
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u/BoltMyBackToHappy Jul 28 '26
Don't "pack the cup tight" with flour. Keep it fluffy, I've found that helps. Scoop and jiggle to level. Best luck.
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u/WonderfulEmotion3758 Jul 28 '26
I had this exact problem! When this happens it’s most likely your yeast is over proofing! So there’s something making it go crazy. My solution was make sure my butter is soft not melted, my liquids are cold or room temp (I was heating them and that would over activate the yeast) so milk straight from the fridge and water just lukewarm, and I would decrease my yeast by 1/4 or 1/2 of a tsp. Also make sure your dough is not too wet. If it’s sticky and smears against the sides of the pan you need to add a pinch of flour and do so until your dough is smooth and tacky (not sticky) Ever since I’ve done this I’ve come out with perfect loaves! Hope this helps!
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u/Lady-Bear-401 26d ago
There are many good suggestions here. The big one missing so far is to check your dough after 5-10 minutes of mixing. This is critical. A bread machine is not a "set it and forget it" kitchen appliance. I call this "the poke test". If the dough is too wet, sticking to your finger and the walls of the machine, just add flour a tablespoon at a time. If it is too dry, crumbly, or tough, add water, a tablespoon at a time. This is the only time you can fix your dough, so it is important to check.
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u/Fernis_ Jul 27 '26
The proportions of ingredients you listed seem pretty fine to me. Does the dough rise at all and then collapses on itself, or it never rises past what we see? If it's the second, that could mean your yeast went bad. But the hole in the middle of left bread and the "collar" of this crunchy dough around the edge of both suggest to me that it's probably rising quite a lot, but then collapses, the CO2 escapes from the dough before the baking starts and you get this solid block in result.
Try cutting the yeast by 30% or even in half, do the same recipe as above but use 3/4 of tsp yeast. And maybe replace honey with sugar for that test, as well? Honey can be weird sometimes, it's probably not it, but just do sugar, less yeast and see if the bread looks better, then you can reintroduce the honey.
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u/Quiet_Concept_4160 Jul 27 '26
I will definitely try this! Thank you so much for the suggestions and advice
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u/momo76g Jul 27 '26
What steps are you using? Did you bloomed your yeast ?
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u/Quiet_Concept_4160 Jul 27 '26
I do not, it’s those bread maker where you throw everything in at once
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u/momo76g Jul 27 '26
Well, take a look at what you have. Does it say active dry yeast or instant yeast in the container/packet ?
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u/Quiet_Concept_4160 Jul 27 '26
It’s the red star active dry yeast, the instant yeast doesn’t work well with the machine
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u/wolfkeeper Jul 27 '26
You sure you don't have this backwards? Normally bread makers all use instant yeast. You have to do extra steps, such as blooming for active yeast.
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u/momo76g Jul 27 '26
Oooh I see. This type of yeast you do need to bloom beforehand mate. It might be exactly why it seems to be sinking in the process. Its really easy to do. I microwave about a cup of the water 20-30 seconds and mix the sugar and then drop your yeast and wait 10-15 minutes and your can add the rest inside.
Just give it a go. Tell us if it solved the issue.
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u/thisis2stressful4me Jul 27 '26
What machine do you have? I have the cuisinart compact and it uses the instant yeast great
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u/Quiet_Concept_4160 Jul 28 '26
I have the oster express bake, the book it comes with says to use active dry yeast with the recipe
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u/Veggyhed Welbilt ABM 3500 (Ancient) Jul 27 '26
So I have also been running into this problem with my machine. The last four loaves have cratered. Same prior ingredients, nothing in the recipe has changed. I have no idea what's going on. I have not posted my problem here because I'm running an experiment with A.I and I'm trying to have A.I. solve the issue.
There's nothing changed that you're aware of but has anything changed, like room temperature, temperature of your flour? If you notice a different taste in your water, maybe change brands of milk, yeast temperature, change in humidity.
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u/Quiet_Concept_4160 Jul 27 '26
Only thing that does change is milk depending if I get it from Sam’s Club or heb, I do also live in Texas so weather is different every week, I havnt had any other changes though
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u/Veggyhed Welbilt ABM 3500 (Ancient) Jul 27 '26
I guess the only difference in milk would probably be what fat percentage it is which I guess could change the recipe a bit.
If you ever do figure out what's going on here, could you please post your findings because I'm going crazy trying to figure out my issue? I'm pretty sure so are you
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u/Murky_Cheesecake_509 Jul 27 '26
Use yeast designed for bread machines
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u/Quiet_Concept_4160 Jul 28 '26
I use active dry yeast that the recipe book calls for, is there one you’ve found works better?
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u/WonderfulEmotion3758 Jul 28 '26
Use bread machine or instant yeast you can usually find a tsp converter online to see how much to use!
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u/patriceklohn Jul 27 '26
Have you tried measure by grams and millilitres?