WHY?! did my loaf of bread FALL?

 Help from anyone who makes bread!  I made this beautiful loaf of yeast banana bread in my bread machine last night.  It rose beautifully, and was baking nicely and THEN it fell!  I mean it fell, almost to the bottom of the pan?  Can anyone tell me why this would have happened and how to prevent it next time?  Thanks!

Not sure. Was your yeast still good? The temp of the liquid you used.

Anyone have any suggestions to help?

Linda

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/tips/bread-troubleshooting.html

Thanks for the idea about the expiration on the yeast, but I did check it before using an it is good until 2010.  Does keeping the yeast in the refrigerator make a difference?  I keep it in the door.

 I did check king arthur's site... how do I keep the dough from getting too light?  

This is really puzzling to me, since I was making at least a loaf of bread week with out a problem this winter.  Since it has gotton warm, we have been busy and it has been too warm to bake.

 Did you use the same kind of flour? Flour can vary with the amount of moisture it has and since it is warm it may have more moister which could make your bread need more flour to hold the structure.

Did the dough appear to be as dry/wet as normal?

chefly

dgood26:

I did check king arthur's site... how do I keep the dough from getting too light?  

 

 Too light bread in this case means it was over risen

Too long a rising period or too high a temp at which the bread rose.

 http://www.landolakes.com/tips/ShowTopic.cfm?TopicID=177&QCategoryID=14- These are the Two Main reasons Bread falls in the oven.

HAPPY

4TH

OF JULY!

 Chefly-

YES!  The dough seemed very wet, I had to add about an additional 1/2 Cup of flour as it was kneading... maybe I should have added more?!

Thanks for the tips!  Keep 'em comin'!

you cannot control how long bread raises in a bread machine.

perhaps it would work better if you let the bread machine do the mixing, and 1st raise, then put it into a baking pan for the 2nd raise, and bake in the oven.  then you can control how long it raises, cause if it over raises, it can fall.

that's how i do my bread all the time.

"Thanks for the tips!  Keep 'em comin'! "

 ??????

The two  Main reasons your loaf collapsed  are in your post already.~Alliea

Bananas turn to wet mush when heated.

Your bread had way too much moisture and rose to fast and too much.

I have two bread machines, each one has 5 fingers and those are still the best because you have to develope a "feel" for the dough.

Well, I deleted my suggestions because I realized I was just no help at all LOL

 I think you might have needed to add even more flour. Since you've made this recipe before go by the way the dough feels/looks, adding enough flour to get the same feel.

Good Luck with the next loaf!

If this loaf isn too dense to eat plain you can always make bread pudding out of it or make bread crumbs and then make a crumble topping for another dessert like a fruit crisp.

chefly