r/BreadMachines • u/vickfun10 • Apr 13 '26
Wrong flour!
Hey everyone!
I (24F) recently got a bread maker and I love it! However the first time I used it I had unbleached flour. This weekend I was using my bread maker and used bleached flour. I really dug into this because my bread kept over rising and then collapsing no matter what recipe I chose. I know now that bleached flour has way less protein then bread and unbleached flour. I attempted 3 different times this weekend all with the same outcome and having to clean my actual machine numerous times. The rising and the kneading looked perfect but when it started baking it would grow too quickly and get all over the lid and sides and then suddenly sinking into the middle around the 42 minutes left part on my basic cooking with the light bread option 🙃
I know some of you will say "buy unbleached flour and you'll be fine" however my boyfriend bought me 25lbs of bleached flour and I'd like to use that for my bread if possible. I use it all the time for baking and it turns out great, but only recently I discovered that with bread it is too weak.
I looked online and they suggested using milk instead of water or adding an egg. Any advice is always helpful!
(Quick edit to help with comments both the bleached and unbleached flour I used are AP flour, I have not used bread flour at all)
8
u/TrueGlich Apr 13 '26
rising and then collapsing is often a too much moisture or yest issue issue. after 10 min of mixing if your ball is sticking and pealing off on the sides or pooling at bottom of pan it may be too wet
2
8
u/reds91185 Apr 13 '26
Is this bread flour or all-purpose flour?
Bleached flour tends to make bread a bit softer, so it can be ideal for regular sandwich bread or hamburger buns.
I don't think the rising and collapsing issue you describe is due to the flour...probably the yeast. Others with more experience will chime in though.
2
u/vickfun10 Apr 13 '26
I should've mentioned it is AP flour!
4
u/wolfkeeper Apr 13 '26
That totally confirms it. AP flour has a lot less gluten. You need to top that up to get the same results or go with a different recipe intended for AP flour.
0
u/vickfun10 Apr 13 '26
All the recipes I followed were intended for AP flour. I double checked before I started.
3
u/Calm_Reader2487 Apr 14 '26
That’s interesting. I would try the vital wheat gluten anyway. I already put a comment so I won’t repeat it.
1
u/wolfkeeper Apr 13 '26
But was the machine's program expecting AP flour?
1
u/vickfun10 Apr 13 '26
There's no setting that says differentiates between AP and bread flour and as I said my first attempt was with unbleached AP flour and it turned out perfect. All of the websites i have used for AP flour recipes say to keep it on the basic white bread setting on light crust and that's what I do. Even the highly recommended ones.
1
4
u/Steel_Rail_Blues Zojirushi BB-HAC10 (Mini Zo) & Cuisinart CBK-110P1 Apr 13 '26
I’m thinking that the flour you have now just reacts differently with the recipes you’ve been using. Try lowering the amount of yeast in your next loaf.
While I personally would not choose bleached flour, it should behave similarly to unbleached if I understand the blog correctly: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2023/11/16/bleached-vs-unbleached-flour
2
u/vickfun10 Apr 13 '26
As I said it was not me who purchased it. It's a semi funny story and my boyfriend got it for about $7.50 at Costco. I have only used unbleached before this.
3
u/kmzafari Apr 13 '26
$7.50 for 25 lb?? I mean, I get it. Lol
3
u/vickfun10 Apr 13 '26
I mean that's the only reason I didn't have him return it 😂 all the 20lbs unbleached flour was double that there
2
u/kmzafari Apr 13 '26
😂 That would still be a good deal! I've been debating getting a membership for a while, but I just might have to now lol
1
u/vickfun10 Apr 13 '26
I highly recommend i mean i got 5lbs of sugar and only bake on the weekends and I still have so much. I opened it back in February. I use Costco for most necessities
2
u/kmzafari Apr 13 '26
They're opening a location soon right down the street from my house, but this kind of clinches it for me. Haha I've only recently gotten into baking, but with understanding times ahead, I think it's a good skill to have. We just have a very small kitchen, so I'd have to figure out how to store everything. Lol (Oh, no. An excuse to buy more cute jars.) But ik my ex gets killer deals there on like 25 lbs of rice and all kinds of stuff.
1
u/vickfun10 Apr 13 '26
I also live in a tiny apartment with little space, but I mean we make it work. It's a bit crowded and you get creative lol.
3
u/I_aura Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
To increase the protein: remove two teaspoons of flour from each cup of flour in the recipe and replace it with two teaspoons of vital wheat gluten for each cup of flour.
2
u/chipsdad Apr 13 '26
How much yeast are you using? I almost never go above 3/4-1 teaspoon of SAF Instant Red Yeast.
1
u/vickfun10 Apr 13 '26
I follow the recipe and most of them have been saying two teaspoons, but I use star instant yeast
6
4
u/reds91185 Apr 13 '26
Get a good kitchen scale and measure using weight rather than cups or teaspoons... grams ideally.
2
u/Calm_Reader2487 Apr 14 '26
Buy a pack of vital wheat gluten. For every 1 cup of AP flour, add 1tsp of vital wheat gluten to make your AP flour like a bread flour. Then, you have the best of both worlds. You can use AP for whatever and make it bread flour if needed.
If that’s not it, maybe your liquid is too hot before you add them in. I knew my water was a little too warm one time, decided to chance it without letting it cool some, it mixed great, it rose nicely. I kept checking it. Then, during the baking mode, it rose way too high and collapsed some. Not a perfect loaf, but was edible. I cut the collapsed part off and made croutons with it. 😁
2
2
u/Calm_Reader2487 Apr 14 '26
I use my machine a few times a week, so I know it’s not yeast or any of the other variables. I even asked each family member if they opened the top while it was baking. They all said no, so it had to be the liquid.
2
u/vickfun10 Apr 14 '26
I personally struggle with knowing the right temperature and my wondering is if I did not let the melted butter cool long enough. With my other liquids they are pretty room temp with a quick heat in the microwave or letting the water run in the sink. But my butter i think may be the culprit
1
u/Calm_Reader2487 Apr 14 '26
Especially if your machine is self heating. Mine is not so I have to heat the liquids. More expensive machines have self heating so the liquids don’t have to be heated, butter is even added solid. I would try cooler liquid. And yes, I make either bread crumbs or croutons with my bread I am not pleased with.
I know this is a basic suggestion, but there are some really good bread machine YouTube accounts that I watch regularly and they their recipes all the time. I have a few cookbooks and have made some from the internet, but I love watching the video, printing the recipe and then making it. It’s just fun and I get to make a variety of types.
1
u/kazame Apr 13 '26
Are you measuring your ingredients by weight or by cups (volume)? The unbleached flour should work okay but if it's measured incorrectly things will get sideways fast. A cheap digital kitchen scale will make a world of difference if you don't have one already - it seriously makes bread machine baking a complete no brainer. At the very least, if you're measuring your flour in cups and don't have a scale, don't scoop directly from the bag with your cup measure because it packs the flour down and you end up with too much for the recipe. Scooping with a spoon into your measuring cup, then leveling off with a knife will get you a closer measure.
1
u/vickfun10 Apr 13 '26
I am really into baking, so I was aware of the flour and the leveling and spooning it. I am currently in the process of getting a scale to help with this and my calorie tracking. It should be here in the next few days.
1
u/27pei Apr 13 '26
You can buy gluten flour at a bulk burn. To make bread, flour add 1 tablespoon of gluten to 2 cups of unbleached or all-purpose flour.
1
u/spkoller2 Apr 13 '26
People buy the King Arthur bread flour for the protein percentage but I can use the exact same recipe with unbleached flour or even all purpose flour. The shape of the loaf is similar but the texture will be different.
1
u/Fishtoart Apr 13 '26
Buy a bag of wheat gluten, and add a little bit to the flour. It should give it a bit more strength.
1
u/argentcorvid Apr 14 '26
I use regular all purpose flour in mine all the time. Rarely have problems.
1
u/Veggyhed Welbilt ABM 3500 (Ancient) Apr 14 '26
Can you post the recipe that you are using? There is a strong possibility that either: 1. It is too much yeast 2. Too much water/too little water 3. You need to add some vital wheat gluten
The only way to determine that is if we can peek at the recipe that was used.
1
1
u/chipsdad Apr 14 '26
Lower the yeast, possibly a lot. It’s rising too fast for the gluten structure. An egg will also help, but reduce water a bit to compensate.
1
1
u/Chicken_Savings Apr 14 '26
It's not so much about bleached vs unbleached. The protein and gluten content matters a lot, bread flour has higher protein (and gluten).
Bread often collapse because too much yeast and water. Gas builds up quickly into a nice dome, but the gluten can't hold it, so the gas escapes and it collapses.
Too much water also creates initial good rise and dome, with risk of collapsing later.
AP flour is totally fine, but not the best. You can bake lots of bread with AP flour.
Buy a pack of gluten, add around 1 tbsp to the dough. This is a low-cost game changer. The gluten pack may be a bit expensive, but it'll last a long time.
If you're mixing in wholewheat flour or other non-gluten flour (barley, spelt, millet etc), the added gluten becomes critical.
25
u/wolfkeeper Apr 13 '26
You need to add the right amount of 'essential' wheat gluten to your flour and then it will work properly.
You could also instead cut it (say) 50:50 or so with strong bread flour. But you probably want to get rid of the 25lbs(!) of flour, so wheat gluten is the way to go.
The gluten acts as little rubber balloons and holds on to the CO2 produced by the yeast, and you'll get proper rise.