Why Does My Bread Dough Collapse?

In this Culinary Q&A, a viewer asks about issues he's having with his bread dough collapsing. A special thank you to Jefferey S. for his question. Show notes can be found here: www.stellaculinary.com/podcas...

[@JacobBurton]

Yes, I will be doing more audio podcasts. Can't promise when, but I'm working on something. Hopefully soon, because I really enjoy doing the audio podcasts; much more laid back and conversational than a quick video.

[@100PercentOS2]

Thank you, chef Jacob. Very informative video.

[@genpact1984]

Waoo... How nicely explained. Thank you sir.

[@julieperkins1698]

Thank you so much, so beautifully explained, sir

[@cindytate-metz8459]

Thank you so much. This video was exactly what I needed. The fact that it was clear and concise made it even better!

[@mozartrn1]

Thank you for addressing this issue. I just had another monumental failure and believe my proofing is too long and at too high a temperature.

[@tracyhood4336]

Hi Chef, do the tips you provide in this video also apply to why a dough collapses during baking? My challah always turns out beautiful but when I go to bake any other kind of bread it always collapses in. Oy!! Thanks

[@kristinuhrig2924]

This is really helpful. Thank you.

[@spacial2]

Thank you.

[@itsALLartVideos]

Thanks for this! I was trying the "rustic loaf" and while my cookbook showed bread that was overproofed and underproofed, it did not tell me WHY this happened. My first time the loaf turned out perfect. The 2nd time, when I sliced it, it sank... along with my pride. Newbie mistake. I kept the dough in too hot a room and it proofed way too fast and I've learned from this vid what NOT to do. Thank you! (Still tasted good, tho, just not as light as I'd like).

[@michelesiegel1629]

Very helpful! Thanks

[@marcelanderer5177]

Great explanation, I am a homecook and I hope I can learn a lot from your F step which I will buy :D

[@gmwell1]

Thank you very much for the very informative video chef, I'm also listening to your podcasts and enjoying the plethora of information you have given! I was wondering if you had thought about doing a class on baking with gluten-free flowers.. or do you have a direction that you could point me? Honestly I feel a bit overwhelmed being a new home chef with celiac disease, and I feel like most of the information is coming from unexperienced people. I would very much appreciate your time and your advice. Mahalo from Hawaii 🤙

[@JacobBurton]

I'll do one eventually, but I don't have any plans in the near future (working on more sauce videos right now). We have pretty easy to follow white bread recipe over on the Stella Culinary website. That's a good place to start.

[@JacobBurton]

There are some finer points to this, which I think will make it a good candidate for an upcoming culinary Q&A video.

[@Heidiconsuelorodriguez]

Thanks 😊

[@elezabeththomas2693]

Just had a beautiful, perfect I thought, dough collapse during the bake and wanted to cry. Question. I used part leftover yeast water I threw in with a fresh batch...should I not have done this or does it matter?

[@jpatalia]

Easily the best lecture...for novices Thanks

[@JacobBurton]

Atta flour is made from hard, durum wheat and is commonly used for flat breads that need to rolled thin. Atta flour contains a high percentage of gluten, a lot more than all purpose flour. The more gluten a flour contains, the more structure it will have, making it great for rolling out thin, flat breads or large artisan loafs. However, the gluten will also give you a tougher texture, which is why your scones turned out the way they did. Next time use all purpose of pastry flour.

[@neilprasad007]

My white sandwich loaves always collapse on the sides. It looks like it's sucked in. Never the crust. What could be the problem? I use pullman pans without lid.

[@kathyodato8322]

why does my baked Italian bread continue to shrink after one or two days?

[@JacobBurton]

In short, you want to freeze meat as fast as possible because the moisture contained within the protein will turn into ice crystals. The slower the freezing process, the larger and more jagged the ice crystals become, which can damage the protein fillaments and have a bad effect on its texture. This is why you'll see some products labled as "IQF" which stands for "individually-quick-frozen." As far as thawing, I prefer to let the meat sit in my refrigerator for a day or two and thaw slowly.

[@gujratibhai4]

Hi Mr. Burton I can bake a wrhite bread make a pizza ok, but my pita bread gets a lot of bubbles but does not puff up or rise. Can you help please? Thanks.

[@janaabreu]

Excellent! ;)

[@smithpwm]

Hi Chef, can you explain the differences in between all purpose flour & "Atta" flour? I made scones using Atta flour where recipe was asking for all purpose flour and the scones did not rise and it was thick & hard. Thanks.

[@lisacobb7525]

Maybe this is what is happening. This bread is rising fine but it only takes about 45 min to an hour. I split the dough in half to make smaller loaves. I thought I would brush them with an egg wash and sprinkle some sesame seeds. As soon as I touched one with the egg it immediately collapsed. I left the other one alone and baked both. The one that collapsed took longer to bake and was about half the height of the other. They both taste fine but meh. I do preheat the oven before I let it rise for the 1st time. I’m always worried that it’s not warm enough to make the dough rise. Newbie to baking bread so trial & error. 🤪

[@GigaBoost]

I have a quick question, what happens to meat when you freeze it? Is frozen meat less flavourful? How do I go about best thawing frozen meat, chicken or fish?

[@on3k1ngd0m]

Hey, just want to say thanks for this amazing insight..!!

[@amavic1]

After I score my baguette prior to baking it collapses, what seems the problem. I proof it for the 3rd time for 1 hour. please help it's always my problem

[@georgefletcher3852]

Meg AU Hi Jacob love your videos my problem is my dough looks perfect in bread pan oven is preheated to temp why does it fall after 5 mins in the oven .

[@Heidiconsuelorodriguez]

Is this case the same for gluten free breads ? Thanks

[@guymace9796]

Tried to listen to the 12 steps podcast but seems unavailable on iTunes and SoundCloud etc any other way I can hear it? Many thanks to you...

[@AndrexT]

I just came here to sort out my problems and noticed this wasn't answered. If you click the stellaculinary website in the description to this video and your will see this video as a Podcast. Then at the bottom you will see 'Bread Baking Video Index'. Click on that and your will see 'SCS 019| Twelve Steps of Bread'. Hope that helps 3 years later :>)

[@guymace9796]

@@AndrexT haha better late than never! thank you!

[@Chef316]

I always see other chefs debating about what is the "perfect" temp to sous vide a egg for a "perfect" soft boiled egg. Polyscience says one thing, and seemingly every chef says somethin different. (differences as small as 0.2-0.5ºC). What do you say and what happens in the various time and temp stages to the egg?...can you cover this in a Q&A, Lecture Video or Demo Chef???

[@seetheforest]

I don't think I'm over fermenting. I mixed a batch today and put it on the porch at 84 degrees. Left it one hour. Made little buns and long rolls they rose for a half hour. Then I tried putting a little egg wash on them. Everything looked great. I gave them a little space they rose the second time, but when I put the wash on a couple rolls collapsed a little. I gave them a little time to expand but they didn't do much.. I baked with a preheated oven at 420 and gave them a blast of steam with some water. Then after a few minutes I backed the heat off to 360 for 30 minutes. They look good but are the same gummy heavy, grainy, small holed farmers bread that weighs 4x what it should. With a rock hard crust. Same way every time for 20 years. I tried a thousand times and a thousand different ways and just got a mixer. The dough looks great feels great rises once and crashes no matter what time of year or what temp. I make pizza dough the Same way and even got OOO flour and tried a half dozen ways with honey, milk, you name it I tried it. Same heavy gum bread or cardboard cracker crust ever time.

[@seetheforest]

I also made the refrigerated fermented 12 hour pizza dough and it never gets warm enough to rise again even if I take it out 5 hours before.

[@gcnewd]

Thank you for this. However my bread drops during the cooking.

[@nenben8759]

So its a lil too hot out to make good bread... Its not a bad temperature for home made paint thinner though It's the temperature of yogurt outside.

[@lyndseyanne4022]

I know this video is old but probably a few more people making bread at the mo. If the bread mixture flops (mine did on the 2nd prove) can the ingredients be salvaged? Should i cook it and will i get flatbreads or can i add yeast again and bring it back to life? Not wanting to waste my orangic wholemeal flour.

[@JacobBurton]

lyndsey Anne you can roll it out with a rolling pin and then cook it on both sides on a grill / griddle / pan to create flat bread. Won’t be as good as a successful flatbread recipe but it will salvage the dough into something edible. If your dough was made up of 100% whole meal flour than that’s probably what’s causing it to collapse. I would recommend using no more than 30% whole meal in conjunction with bread flour. 20% or below if you’re newer to bread baking.

[@oversleepy]

Jacob is awesome! Ever going to do another podcast ?

[@17germa]

Thanks for the great explanation (re dough, not egg ....).

[@titao61]

Got it!!

[@buddha65281]

I have made several loafs of bread and also had nice rises UNTIL today.. the ONLY change in ingredients was that I used "bottled water". The yeast was pulled from the refrigerator and all other ingredients were room temp "72". This loaf looked like cornbread, it was pathetic AND the inside was still doughy... Not sure I will try bottled water ever again(but I probably will just because). I think i will activate the yeast with water and sugar first and then add to flour and salt. bummer

[@JacobBurton]

The bottled water had to have been a coincidence. There's no scientific reason why the bottled water would do that to the dough, unless it had a really high acid content.

[@JacobBurton]

It really all comes down to personal preference. The issue arises because egg whites set at a higher temperature than the yolk. So when the yolk is perfect and still runny, the whites still need more time (and a higher temperature). I prefer to cook my eggs at 63C for an hour because screw the egg whites, for me, it's all about the yolk. But that's really where the debate stems from; what's more important to you, a set white or a perfectly runny yolk?

[@vanessabulintao6476]

My babka(chocolate loaf bread)collapse when i slice it after baking it😞

[@nenben8759]

Let it cool down. Saddest thing a baked good can be Other than being charred Is collapsed

[@Chef316]

duh...perfect Yolk of course! hahaha Thanks Chef!

[@mzyjcphtblessed5648]

Thank u but can u still eat the collapsed bread

[@JacobBurton]

Ah hell. I think I need a DOSE of caffeine. Thanks for the heads up. I fixed the title.

[@jillkeeley2146]

My bread raising nice, but as soon as it goes in the oven, it falls

[@vegahimsa3057]

Bacteria and yeast fermentation is a curve. The simplistic temperature/time math does not work.

[@LevAgency]

Remember that yeast can REPRODUCE and DOUBLE the population every 90 MINUTES - if you cant control the temperature of the kitchen, try decreasing the quantify of yeast you add to the recipe. If your dough collapses/over-proofed - try cutting the amount of yeast in the recipe - EVEN IF YOU'RE USING A BREADMACHINE.

[@joestolzenberger1890]

It's over proofed, to light to holed up the weight.

[@mzyjcphtblessed5648]

Can u still eat the collapsed bread

[@JacobBurton]

Yes. It will just be dense.

[@mzyjcphtblessed5648]

@@JacobBurton lol thank u hon

[@GigaBoost]

Does *

[@chasesparrow8105]

Very