Another query from your problem child

[Kim Shook]

The bread machine bread that I am making for giving at Christmas is Holiday Bread.  This is what it looks like:

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the bottom half is very dark, though not burned.  I baked it on the lightest crust setting.  I looked back at last year and to me it looks the same.  But when I looked at a picture of a bread I made back in 2016, there was no darkness.  No difference in sugar amounts, so that isn't the issue.  Does anyone have any ideas what is happening?  Is my breadmaker just so old that it needs replacing?  Thanks for your help!

[dcarch]

Possibly the cover/lid was partially open  by mistake?

 

dcarch

 

 

 

 

[Lisa Shock]

Might have been underproofed, or the room was colder to start with. When you see a dark bottom and light top it can often indicate a good amount of last minute lift. (the bottom remains fairly static and is browning while the top is still changing shape. Does the light/dark setting affect proving? Is the proving cycle heated? Any idea about room temperature?

[lindag]

12 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

The bread machine bread that I am making for giving at Christmas is Holiday Bread.  This is what it looks like:

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the bottom half is very dark, though not burned.  I baked it on the lightest crust setting.  I looked back at last year and to me it looks the same.  But when I looked at a picture of a bread I made back in 2016, there was no darkness.  No difference in sugar amounts, so that isn't the issue.  Does anyone have any ideas what is happening?  Is my breadmaker just so old that it needs replacing?  Thanks for your help!

What you're seeing is one of the many reasons I don't bake in my bread machine.  It's so much easier to control when I just use my oven and my results are a lot better.  The machine is so much easier to use for mixing and kneading and I don't have to wash my big mixer bowl, beater and hook.  The machine cleans up in no time.

Edited December 16, 2018 by lindag (log)

[Kim Shook]

Thanks for the input!  The lid was definitely down, @dcarch.  And the room us usually between 66 and 70 degrees.  No idea if the proving cycle is heated.  I know that my results would be better in my oven or my CSO, but I was making NINE of these boogers and I was going for easy.  😏

 

Since they aren't burnt, after all, and taste wonderful, I'll still give them out.  But after the holidays, I'm going to make a couple of batches of different kinds of breads I've made before and see what I get.