Why Does Baking Bread Fall? (Here’s What You’re Doing Wrong)

One of the most common things newbie bakers need to know is, “why does baking bread fall?” It’s always frustrating to knead through bread, trying to shape it to the perfect form, only for it to collapse during (or after) baking. How can we avoid bread collapsing or falling after baking, and why does this happen?

Bread can collapse or fall due to over-proofing, over fermentation, or other environmental factors that speed up said processes. During fermentation, carbon dioxide builds up. When too much CO2 builds up during this period, the bread collapses before it can set.

How can we avoid our bread collapsing during baking? To understand and properly assess, we will go through the scientific processes that make your bread scrumptious and know how it went wrong.

Baking Bread Falls Because There Is Too Much Carbon Dioxide In Your Dough

Why does baking bread fall? There are specific methods of proofing and fermentation that can speed up the process, thus releasing a lot more CO2 than what is preferred. But before we can proceed with the reasoning, let us understand how fermentation or proofing works first by looking at our favorite leavening agent, yeast.

How Does Yeast Work?

Yeast is a single-celled fungus, and it is more common than you think. They can practically grow and proliferate in any moist environment, and although the thought of its spores draping around may sound horrible, they are pretty harmless. 

They are not only responsible for bread, but they can also be responsible for other things, such as beer. To utilize yeast, especially if you do not have instant yeast, you will need to “wake them up” or proof them. Because yeast is a living ingredient, to be able to do their jobs, they will need sugar as a source of food or energy.

When you activate yeast with warm water and sugar, they slowly activate and get added to flour. What happens is that when the yeast goes into the flour, it will eat up the sugars, and they will start to produce by-products. 

One of the said by-products are CO2, and they “burp” carbon dioxide out, causing the dough to rise significantly while also enabling the bread not to be hard as stone when baked. (source) 

Why Does Baking Bread Fall, And How Does Yeast Play A Part?

Yeast plays an integral part in answering the question as to why baking bread fall. Not because it is the reason for your bread’s collapse, but because one has misused yeast to a certain extent. Frequently, bread collapsing is the baker’s fault and not the yeast’s.

When yeast ferments your dough, what happens is that it will continue to release carbon dioxide as it gobbles up the sugars and starches inside the dough. If the yeast is left to ferment the dough for too long, the yeast produces too much carbon dioxide.

At first, it may look like your bread has nearly tripled in size. It looks impressive, but once it gets heated up and expands, the solid structure that holds the bread together will break. As you can see, another variable– gluten, plays an essential part.

Gluten is a protein that makes the bread unified, and it is sort of like a net that traps gas bubbles together, making the bread rise. If the bread was a house, gluten is the walls, the foundation, and the beams. Practically, there would be no bread (at least, there would be nothing you would conventionally identify as bread) if there was no gluten (Shewry, P., 2019, “What is gluten-Why is it special?“).

When the bread expands too much, the gluten will not be able to hold the bread any longer, and the whole structure of the bread collapses. This scientific wonder inside your kitchen answers, “why does breaking bread fall.” 

How Exactly Do You Get “Too Much Carbon Dioxide In Your Bread?” How To Fix Your Next Batch Of Bread (In Three Ways)

There are many reasons why your bread may have excess carbon dioxide that causes the baking bread to fall. Below, we cite the reasons why baking bread fall.

The Three Reasons Why Your Bread Is Collapsing

1. You may have over-proofed or over-fermented your bread. This phenomenon typically occurs when one leaves bread rising for too long.
2. You are using too much yeast. When not the proper ratio is followed, yeast may produce too much carbon dioxide.
3. The temperature during the proofing is too high. Heat expedites the fermentation and proofing process.

1) What Happens When You Over Ferment Your Dough?

There are a lot of factors that encourage the delaying of the fermentation process for as long as possible. Many bakers believe that the fermentation process (the process wherein the yeast gobbles up sugars and starches and releases carbon dioxide) defines the taste of the bread. The longer the bread ferments, the more complex its flavor is, thus giving the incentive to delay the fermentation process.

However, when you let your bread ferment for too long, the structural integrity of the bread breaks, and what happens is that the bread lies flat, answering the question, why does breaking bread fall? (source)

A Tip To Fix Your Next Batch

• Make sure to always time the proofing process. While baker’s instinct helps assess the situation, it is best to have numbers guide you through baking. It is best to add a timer that rings as it is helpful to keep you from forgetting to stop the fermentation process.
• There are two types of fermentation. The first rise, or the bowl fermentation, needs to go for at least two hours. Meanwhile, the proofing fermentation (or the second rise) must not be faster than an hour. Follow these ratios thoroughly.

2) Add Enough Yeast. More Is Not Merrier. Less Is Not Minimalist. 

Adding too much yeast can cause several problems. First, it can cause the dough to fall or collapse. Second, it can compromise the taste.

The fermentation process speeds up when you add too much yeast. The complex flavors of the bread fail to develop during this period when not enough time is set for the bread to rise.

If your recipe does not have a specific amount of yeast to be used or you are developing your own recipe, follow this yeast chart. This chart helps you get an idea of how much yeast you can use per batch.

Flour (in cups)	Dry yeast (in grams)
1-4	7
4-8	14
8-12	21

 3) Check The Temperature

Another thing you might need to consider is the environmental temperature.

According to chef Jacob Burton of Renaissance Reno Downtown Hotel & Spa, for every 17 F (8 F) rise, the speed at which yeast works doubles. There are a few problems with this. 

For example, because the proofing rate is faster, the formation of complex flavors that form at the tail end of the proofing process is not present. (source)

Another problem with this is that it will be harder to predict when to finish proofing. What typically happens is that because of the unprecedented temperature, the dough over-proofs. And we know what happens when dough over proofs– bread collapses and falls.

One Last Tip For Your Next Batch Of Bread 

• Do not let your bread prove/ferment/rise in areas with heat. Stay away from ovens and other heat sources, such as a stove. 
• If you live in a hot area, or if you cannot mitigate the heat, consider cooling your dough in the refrigerator or an air-conditioned room.

Summary

Why does baking bread fall? Because of three primary reasons:

1. You let the bread proof for too long (when this happens, make sure to employ a kitchen timer to help you)
2. You used too much yeast (follow the rough 4 cups flour:7 grams yeast ratio, refer to the above chart for more details)
3. The temperature is too hot (cool your dough in a cold room, avoid heat sources)

Happy baking!