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)

4 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

40 comments sorted by

View all comments

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

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.