My bread appears to be rising well with a nicely rounded top then somewhere early in the bake cycle the top collapses or falls. What would cause that?

Hello, Julz -

Instead of looking for more recipes for your Crofton bread maker, or any other bread maker, I looked for information as to why the bread made with a bread maker would collapse on top.

The answers I found on this online baking formum:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/9725/bread-machine-loaf-collapse-when-baking-starts
may prove instructive.

To summarize, some of the causes and remedies for bread maker bread collapsing on top:
- You may reside at a high altitude and have not adjusted the recipe so that it does not over-proof [over-rise]. Cut down on the yeast, sugar, and salt.
- Even if you are not at a high altitude, try a recipe with reduced amounts of yeast, sugar, and salt (try reducing the amounts by 1/4 to 1/3)
- Use the dough mix cycle; Then turn the machine off and let the dough rise a little less than the recipe calls for; When you see the dough has risen turn the machine on to bake.
- If your bread maker allows,.reduce the amount of time between rise and bake

If you want additional bread maker recipes, you will find more here:
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/338/bread/bread-machine/

I did find a PDF document (Adobe Reader software - free) for a model of a Crofton Breadmaker, model MD 8505. In case you do not have a manual for your machine. The manual I found has information on how to make adjustments for altitude (page 22) and other adjustments to make (pages 23 - 24), including what may cause the loaf to fall while baking. This is the link to the manual:
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/338/bread/bread-machine/

Best wishes.

Looks like you have the same bread man machine I have. My metod is too unplug the machine for a half hour then put it through a second round of mixing. At the end of secound mixing I place the dough in a bowl greased and large enough for the dough to rise one last time oil top of dough cover with a towel on top of stove turned on set to the desired temperature. Keep dough away from any drafts. Once dough has doubled in size usually about one hour, take dough from bowl and divide it into buns or loafs of bread. Let dough rise again covered. Place in oven bake for about 15 minutes or longer until desired color, bread is done when you tap the top of it and it has a hollow sound, remove from oven let cool in pan for about 5 minutes, then take bread out of pan and place on a rack that allowes air to flow all around it. The reason for the rack is that baked bread that is allowd to cool on a fly surface will cause the bread to sweat on the bottom. Make sure yeast is good not expired or left out in the open

i use reg yeast ~~ my machine doesnt rise long enough so i use it just to mix the ingredients and do the 1st rise --i take it out before the final rise and raise it in a bread pan myself and bake it to 195 degrees
ALL baked goods should be baked to a specific internal temp!!!!!!!
Checking the internal temperature of bread is a foolproof way to tell if it is fully baked. Insert an instant-read thermometer through the side of the loaf and the internal temperature should be 190 to 200 degrees~~cakes about 210

Do you mean the loaf rises ok, then during the cooking cycle collapses?
if so, you will have to alter the mix.
First try using less yeast. Adding a little more salt may also help.

helllo dis.... There are many things that can cause cakes to fall in the middle.... Jumping, etc., around the baking area is unlikely to be a problem except with very delicate sponge or angel food cakes. More likely, cakes fall when the crust appears to be done, but the batter is not baked through the middle. An uneven baking temperature is a frequent culprit; check the temperature of your oven with a separate baking thermometer, and be certain that your oven holds a steady heat through the entire baking period. Some older ovens preheat properly, then cycle off and drop the temperature after 15 or 20 minutes, which causes the uncooked portion of the cake to fall.

Less likely but possible problems could be inaccurate proportions of baking powder or baking soda if the cake is made from scratch. This could occur with cake mixes if sour milk or buttermilk is used instead of regular milk; the additional acid in sour milk requires additional baking soda to rise properly. Eggs that are not beaten properly, or perhaps beaten too much for the type of cake being made, might also cause problems. Joe

Rising bread is caused by carbon dioxide bubbles being created in the bread by the action of yeast on the sugars in the mix. If the rising stops early, allowing the bread to fall it could be one of several things that cause the carbon dioxide bubbles to stop pushing up the bread. Any of the following could be the cause:
- insufficient sugar in the mix to feed the yeast.
- sudden drop in temperature, slowing down the process, maybe caused by opening the lid to check
- mixture that is so thick that the gas production struggles to overcome the elasticity of the dough
- try adding a little more water, or more sugar, or changing the flour. Avoid opening the machine to check on progress.

cut back on your liquid 1 tablespoon on the next loaf. If it still collapses cut back 2 tablespoons on the next one. If that doesn't do it I'll be very surprised!

The next time you bake bread use 1 tablespoon less liquid. If it still collapses then the 2nd time use one tablespoon less liquid and ONE MORE tablespoon of flour. That should do it!

Your machine is too warm while the dough rises. No adjustment possible. You can add a bit of Gluten to your bread or buy flour for bread making instead of general purpose flour. Most white flour has gluten reduced during processing.

Julie Childs book, "the way to cook" has a nice write up on gluten in European flour vs. the general purpose flour we commonly buy in the US.

If it rises too fast (too much yeast or temperature too high while rising) it will have large air holes that will collapse. Also possible that it was not cooked long enough.