Tag Archives: #over proofing in a bread maker

bread making, Uncategorized

Getting An Unruly Overproofing Bread Maker To Cooperate

This post is for those of you who have a bread maker that consistently overproofs your loaves.

If you have read my posts, you know I love machines and love comparing one machine to another. I like kitchen machines as they tend to be simple and understandable, given my non-engineering scope.

I have been playing with bread makers since the late 1980s, and I have used over 20 machines during that time. In fact, I have quite a few of them as I write this. You may think I have spent a fortune on these machines, but I buy almost all of them used and have spent as little as $4.99 on a working one.

Bread maker components are all the same. That is not to say that they are all of the same quality; instead, all bread makers have the same types of components.

All bread makers have a simple display with a tiny microcomputer that controls things like kneading and baking times.

All bread makers have a heat system with a thermostat and one or two heating elements that are used for baking and sometime proofing.

All bread makers have a motor that turns a kneading paddle in the bread pan.

Add to this a case, buttons, and a display, and you have a bread maker.

Manufacturers may program their bread makers slightly differently, so one brand may knead a bit more, another may use a different proofing schedule, and another may have a slightly different baking temperature or baking time. That is why one brand may make a loaf that is more to your liking. However, all should be able to make a decent loaf of bread.

Since most of my machines are used, I always run them through their paces when they are first acquired. I’ll make sure that they power up and that all of their buttons work. I then make sure the paddle turns and the heating elements warm. If all is good, I’ll bake a loaf of bread. Typically, I’ll use the white bread recipe from the machine’s instruction guide at the machine’s maximum loaf size. If that is not feasible, I’ll use a standard white bread recipe that I know has worked in a variety of machines. Surprisingly, the majority of these used machines continue to make excellent loaves of bread, even my 30-year-old ones.

However, on rare occasions, I run into a clinker. I got a used machine on Amazon for a great price. It worked perfectly, except the paddle wouldn’t turn. I was able to send that one back to the seller. And then there was this machine, a Cuisinart CBK-200 bread maker, gotten at an amazingly low price on eBay. It passed all of its preliminary tests with flying colors, but my test loaf came out hopelessly overproofed. Returning something to eBay is not as easy as doing the same on Amazon. This would be a good time to apply the scientific method and develop a solution.

The Cuisinart CBK-200 is a classic bread maker that has been sold for over 10 years, suggesting that there was something specifically wrong with this unit. Likely the reason that they were selling it on eBay.
I made this loaf using the 2-pound white bread recipe from the Cuisinart instruction manual. I was very meticulous, weighing and measuring all ingredients. The bread was made at home at around 70°F and with normal humidity. Bread was made using program 1, medium crust, 2.0-pound loaf. What a disaster!

Cuisinart has sold this particular model for over 10 years, so its overall design can’t be flawed. Therefore, the problem had to be with this machine. The solution was to find a workaround that was as simple and reasonable as possible.

I was a research scientist before I went to med school and am well-versed in setting up experiments. Experiments have constants, which don’t change, and variables, which do. Many experiments involve adjusting variables and recording the outcomes from those adjustments. In a perfect world, an investigator changes one variable at a time. However, I’m just trying to get a bread maker to make a good loaf of bread, not publish a paper. I don’t want to have to make a dozen loaves, each with a slight change. Besides, my funding director (AKA my wife) would disapprove of me wasting ingredients! I needed to be as efficient as possible.

If you make bread the traditional way, there are quite a few steps you can take to address overproofing. However, many steps in a bread maker are fixed and therefore constants. On this particular machine, kneading, proofing, and baking times, as well as temperature, are fixed and can’t be changed.

There were some variables that I could change, so let’s take a look at those.

Environmental

Excessively hot or humid conditions can affect yeast growth, leading to overproofing. However, my room temperature was around 70°F, and the humidity was within normal limits. This was a variable that I couldn’t easily change.

Baking programs

Like most modern bread makers, the Cuisinart has many preset programs for making various types of bread, such as white or whole wheat. Cusinart thoughtfully provides a timetable for these programs. Some did have shorter final rise times (which would reduce overproofing), but they also had changes to other parameters, like kneading times. I didn’t want to have to experiment with every bread recipe, trying multiple programs until I found the one that worked with that recipe, so that option was out.

Another possibility was to use the dough function, terminating the last rise early, and then using the bake function to bake the bread. Honestly, that would be more trouble than it was worth for me. I have other machines. If this one was going to enter the rotation, it had to be as easy to use as the other ones.

However, I was willing to try one option. I usually make 1.5-pound loaves instead of 2.0-pound loaves because the bread is the same length but shorter, and more “store-bread”- like. I knew from experience that sometimes a machine does a better job making a 1.5-pound loaf vs. a 2.0-pound loaf. I decided to give that option a try, and in this case, I used a Betty Crocker recipe that works in multiple machines. Here are the results:

This loaf looks better, but the top has collapsed, a sure sign of overproofing. The loaf color is good, but a bit dark. I made this loaf on the medium crust setting, but it looks like I used the dark crust setting. Could the thermostat be off? Perhaps the baking chamber is overheating during the proofing cycle. However, I have no way of changing that.
Here is that loaf sliced. Wow, many indications of overproofing, including the top of the slice being missing and huge air holes throughout. This bread was edible, but hardly ideal. Time to do another experiment.

Impact of Ingredient on overproofing

Every ingredient has an impact on the final loaf of bread. The good thing about experimenting with simple white bread is that the ingredient list is short. The only additional ingredient in the Betty Crocker loaves is a little dry milk powder. That may add some sugar, but it wouldn’t be the first variable I would test.

Flour

Bread flour works best, and I was using a quality bread flour. If the dough is too wet (slack), it doesn’t provide enough resistance to the CO2 gas bubbles and will overproof. However, I always check my dough during kneading, and it was fine.

My dough ball was smooth and slightly tacky. Just the way it should be.

Sugar

Sugar adds flavor and helps the yeast grow. Sugar could be reduced, but by how much? Also, sugar varies from recipe to recipe. I didn’t want to have to calculate a sugar amount every time I made a different loaf. How much should I reduce 2T of sugar? What about a recipe with 3T or 1/3 cup of sugar? Too complicated for me; pass on this variable.

Salt

Salt controls yeast, so adding a bit more should inhibit the yeast. But how much? Plus, I don’t want salty bread. I would consider adjusting salt, but it would be an option of last resort.

Yeast

Now we are talking. Yeast can be adjusted easily. Most advise a reduction of 10-25%. This recipe uses 2t of yeast, so I could easily change it to 1 and 1/2t (25% less). But heck, let’s make some other changes too. I had used instant yeast, which can be a bit more active than active yeast. For this round, I went with active yeast. Lastly, I changed the loaf color from medium to light to see if that would make a difference. I know, I know, I’m changing three variables at once. However, this would be my third loaf in less than 24 hours. I needed to be flexible. But what were the results?

Here is the loaf. It looks pretty good! Let’s see how it compares with the other 1.5 pound loaf that I made.
Much better! Look at the difference between the beautiful dome of the 1.5t yeast bread vs the loaf with 2t of yeast! However, it remains the same color even after selecting a light crust. Clearly, the temperature is a bit off, which is why the machine is overproofing. However, I can change the yeast variable and compensate for that.
This slice is just about perfect. Job done!

If your machine is overproofing, check the obvious things first. Is the room too hot or humid? Did you measure everything correctly? Is your dough hydrated correctly? Are you using a recipe that you know works across multiple machines, or one that was specifically designed for your machine? If you have done everything right, then look towards the ingredients. Many of them will impact the rise of the loaf. However, adjusting the amount of yeast is the simplest option. I also changed from instant to active yeast. I’ll continue that too.

In this machine, I think it is increasing the temperature slightly. I’m basing this on the fact that the light crust still looks pretty dark. I can’t change that, so luckily the yeast trick works.

Think like a scientist, bake like a chef!

Mike