Troubleshooting dough in bread maker
Looking for bread maker advice. I have a whole grain recipe that I love and have been successfully making (without a bread maker) for several years. I usually knead for about 10 min in a kitchen aid then a few more minutes by hand.
I’ve tried a few times to make the dough in a bread maker on the dough cycle, which is about 30 active minutes (I remove it and prove as normal after the kneading is complete). The loaves consistently come out flat. The first rise goes really well and the dough feels nice, but after I shape the loaf, the second rise is much weaker than normal.
What’s going on? I tried reducing the length of the first rise and that helped some, but it’s still pretty flat. Am I overkneading? I’ve made 3 loaves in 3 days so looking for any advice!
Thanks in advance!
While it's crucial to fully develop the dough to yield tall and airy bread, over mixing can tear the gluten formed and lead to flat loaves. Also, generally, inclusions shouldn't be mixed into the dough until it's well developed and hydrated.
I also mix whole-grain dough in a bread machine. Here's how I normally do it:
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/71297/20221020-simple-100-wholewheat-bread-clas
Yippee
What bread machine are you using? There's quite a difference in knead quality between them.
My experience is, most bread machines knead for far too long, especially for whole-grain breads. Even the dough-only programs. So stop the knead cycle when you feel the dough is ready.
The obvious way to do this is by stopping the machine (pressing the stop button). But then you lose the machine's temperature control during the rise/ferment.
The alternative is to simply lift the mixing bowl up off the spindle and prop it to one side of the chamber for the remainder of the knead cycle. When the spindle stops spinning, replace the pan and let the rise continue.
I do this all the time. It does not hurt the machine one bit.
Thanks for the advice! I'm using an old Welbilt that I'm borrowing from a neighbor, so I'm almost certain it's kneading too long. I will stop it, since I wasn't using it for the rise anyway. Hoping this helps!
kneaded things to death. The knead cycles on my old Oster were 25-30 minutes for every program! That's about twice what I typically want.
One good thing about the older machines; they typically had a tall, square bread pan and are pretty good mixers and kneaders.
Thanks for the advice! I just baked a beautifully risen loaf. I thought I was overprooofing but was definitely over kneading. Appreciate the suggestions!
Glad to hear of the good results!
One possible explanation is the length of the dough mixing in the bread machine. If you reduced the duration of the first rise, it might not allow the gluten to develop properly in the dough, which could result in flat loaves.