Troubleshooting
30
Cratered bread
If the top caves in, it is probably too much moisture
inside the bread. This could be caused by using canned
fruit or vegetables. You are better to drain well and
dry first or to reduce your water by 1 tablespoon.
Crater Bread also happens with cheese bread because
each cheese has its own moisture content. A mishaped
loaf with soggy sides could result from leaving a loaf in
the machine after baking is completed.
Mushroom bread
There is too much yeast, so that it's risen too much.
Yeast is almost always measured in teaspoons and is
active dry type. Please do not mix your active dry yeast
with fast rise yeast in same bread. There could also be
too much sugar, or ingredients with sugar like dried
fruit. Decrease the sugar or honey accordingly.
Another possibility is too much water used. Try
decreasing it by
1
/
8
cup at a time. If a recipe still
explodes to the top, try to replace
1
/
4
of the total flour
with whole wheat flour/wholemeal flour.
Gnarly loaves
Your dough probably needs more moisture. It is
suggested to reduce flour 1 tablespoon at a time or to
increase liquids 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach
the right balance for your machine.
Most recipes contain sugar in some form for
sweetness and to start the yeast and to promote
browning. Salt, on the other hand inhibits the yeast,
but is needed for flavour. Thus you can control the
balance of the chemical reaction between flour, yeast,
water, sugar and salt to make a good loaf of bread
according to your desired texture, weight and
browning.
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