Sinking bread

[blackcat]

Hi all,

I have a friend who says her wholemeal loaves always sink in the middle. She uses half and half flour mix, so can anyone suggest a remedy, please. I wondered if it was oven temp.

 

[MomsKitchenAndStuff]

This happened to me a couple times. A friend told me that I was letting the dough proof too long. When dough proofs, the air inside of it get too big. Then, as the bread cools there's no support to actually hold the shape. Make sense? Well, I didn't allow the dough to proof as long (I cut it in half) and noticed a difference I hope this might help!

 

[blackcat]

That's a good thought, I must be honest, that didn't occur to me, but I'll pass that on to my friend.
Thank you so much for your response.

 

[dave the baker]

Two other possibilities: Too much whole meal flour (low in gluten) and/or over-kneading.

 

[Russellkhan]

Two other possibilities: Too much whole meal flour (low in gluten)

I've seen you say this before and I have to say, whole grain flours are really not as hard to work with as you seem to think. I've made plenty of loaves with no white flour and had great results nearly every time. The times my results were less than optimal were due to my own mistakes, and not inherent problems with the flour itself.

Here are two recipes I've had good results baking, if you care to try them:
Sourdough Home - 100 Percent Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
100% Whole Wheat Bread
And no, I didn't add gluten to the first recipe when I made it. Whole wheat flour, by the way, isn't necessarily all that low in gluten. There are low gluten varieties, usually labelled as "soft" or "whole wheat pastry flour", but whole wheat flour with sufficient gluten isn't hard to find. King Arthur's standard whole wheat flour makes excellent breads, and there are plenty of others that do too.

 

[MexicoKaren]

Blackcat, noting your location, I am wondering if you have problems related to weather...I know I do, especially this time of year, when it is warm and humid. If I am baking bread, I need to start in the coolest part of the day (early morning), or the bread simply tends to rise too quickly. That might be your friend's problem as well.