Concave bread

[vass]

Hi, I'm looking for advice on bread machines. I have a delicious recipe, which turned out all right the first few times I made it, but has recently been producing bread that first rises then sinks dramatically, causing an interesting inverse parabola effect.

The only changes I've made are brand of yeast, and possibly loaf size setting.

The brand of yeast: I was buying little sachets of the stuff, and I shifted to a big bulk cannister, in an attempt to make it more economical. My goal is to have nicer bread that costs less than a loaf from the supermarket. I tried doubling the yeast, but the bread was still concave.

The loaf size setting: I don't remember which setting I had it on before, but recently I have had it on 1kg. The problem is that there are three possible settings: 750g, 1kg, and 1.5kg, and this recipe calls for 4 cups of flour, which is neither 750g nor 1kg, but somewhere in the middle. But yeah, I might have previously set it to 750g and then forgot that this was the right settinng.

The bread still tastes fine, it's just aesthetically displeasing.

Does anybody know which of these causes is likely to be the culprit, or if it's something else entirely? Thank you.

Comments

[jumpuphigh]

Were the packets of active dry yeast or instant yeast? It makes a difference. Also, you can test the yeast to see if it is still active by adding it to warm water with sugar. It should get all frothy in 5-10 minutes.

Here are some websites that have help on making bread:
http://www.baking911.com/bread/problems.htm
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/yeastbreadtip.htm

[miome]

I've seen that when there's too much liquid, but that doesn't make sense given what you've said. Maybe your new brand of yeast is stronger than the old, have you tried cutting back?

Either way, good luck, and thanks for sharing the recipe!

[passerine]

I end up with concave bread when I have either too much/too active yeast or too much sweetener.