I have a Breadman automatic bread machine. (Model TR444). It’s probably about six or seven years old. I stopped using it a while back because every loaf of bread came out like a brick. I changed my yeast, I changed my flour, and I even changed the recipe that I used. Nothing-- every loaf was as dense as cement. Still, I figured I must be doing something wrong.
I brought it out again today and decided to use a Just Add Water mix, 'cause there ain’t much you can do to screw that up. I just went downstairs to peek through the window at it and was very dissapointed with what I saw: the bread had “collapsed”, promising to be just as dense as always. (It’ll be done in 30 minutes-- i’ll let you know then if it was.)
Considering a “foolproof” recipe and following the instructions has eliminated the obvious cause of “user error”, I have to now blame the machine.
I used the setting for “wheat bread” just like the box suggested, and the bread rose fine during those cycles. (The same problem has occured on the “white bread” cycles.) It never comes out burned or underdone-- just very dense.
Should I just get a new bread machine and assume this one is a dud?