These gasses are then trapped inside your dough by the gluten mesh that has been created. If your gluten mesh is not fully developed it will not be able to supposer those gasses and thus resulting in a flat or collapsed bread.
When kneading dough you are actually creating that gluten mesh. If that mesh was not developed enough your dough will rise but will quickly collapse as soon as you handle the dough after proofing. The mesh will just not be strong enough to hold the gasses in it. You will also notice your dough collapsing or flattening during the baking stage or when you go to slash your bread. Because the gluten mesh is not spread evenly you will have big pockets of air and when you slash your bread all those gases will escape.
Same goes for the baking stage. If your mesh is not even or not fully developed your dough will not be able to hold on to those gasses and your bread will flatten out as well. There is a very easy test you can proform that will tell you if your gluten mesh is developed enough or not.
It is commonly known as the windowpane test. Take a piece of dough and stretch it out between your fingers. If you can successfully get a nice thin piece of dough that you can see light shine through it and it does not break you then know you have a good strong gluten mesh.
If your dough breaks apart during this test keep on kneading until you get the desired results. Flour selection is very important. Gluten is part of the protein in your flour grain. So if the flour you are using is low in protein chances are you will have a weak gluten mesh in your final product. Check your flours nutrition values. When making a bread that uses a blend of flours you should always take into consideration the protein content.
If you are making a whole wheat bread you will notice that it has about the same protein content as regular bread flour. The fact that whole wheat bread has the added bran and fibers to it will require higher hydration thus lowering the amount of gluten in the final product as well.
If using whole wheat or rye flours or any other flours that have a lower protein content in them, try to blend the flours with a strong flour. This will help to balance out the protein content and will help with the development of a good strong gluten mesh. If you want a higher whole wheat flour content then replace the percentage of the white flour with Strong flour.
You might notice that the collapse happens during the slashing stage or when transferring the dough from your proofing basket onto your peel or dutch oven. This is quite common for doughs that are over-proofed. The proof or proof of your dought is the final stage before baking. This is when your dough is most susceptible to flatting. Overproofing your dough will result in a flatting or collapsing of the dough. The reason for this is that the yeast in your bread has exhausted itself and does not have any more energy after you put it in the oven.
If the bread has a coarse, open texture then the dough could have been too wet, over-proved or the oven temperature was not high enough. If the bread has an uneven texture with large holes then the dough might not have been knocked back properly ,which could potentially leave large air bubbles, or the dough could have been left uncovered during rising.
If your bread has a sour, yeasty flavour and smells of alcohol then you have either used too much yeast. If your bread stales quickly and is crumbly then you may have used too much yeast, the flour may not have the correct protein content or the length of time that you left the dough to prove for was either too long or too short.
Even if you are proofing your bread in a brotform before baking, it WILL flatten out somewhat on the baking sheet. Here's a fine pictorial tutorial on forming loaves that may be useful. But it may take quite a bit of practice to get there, perhaps even exhausting your frustration tolerance.
If you try things, and they still don't work right away, and you're about to tear your hair out, use a mold It may even help a little more to shape the dough into the mold and put it in the refrigerator for proofing, then move it directly from the refrigerator to the oven.
Cold dough holds its shape a little more; besides you only need a few minutes until the loaf shape "sets". The downside is it's awfully hard to tell when a refrigerated loaf has "proofed enough". But you may find the tradeoff worthwhile. A "mold" may even mean shaping and proofing the loaf on a piece of parchment paper with rolled towels stuffed under both edges of the parchment paper to corral the dough.
Thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions! I found a few videos and tutorials in addition to everyone gave me, I will be making some bread tonight and let you know how it turns out! Skip to main content. My bread is too flat! November 1, - am. Hi Everyone, I was hoping someone would be able to help me with a constant problem I have been having. Thanks for any help you can give! Nov 1 - am. Nov 1 - pm. Good luck and enjoy.
But to reemphasize the earlier advice, conscientous shaping is also very important. If you choose a weak ish flour like AP flour, you may never achieve a desired result. Think about using a stronger flour, like bread flour.
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