I also call this The Big Valley as it usually leaves a sunken area in the middle of the loaf. I wrote an article about this a few years ago, but here’s an updated version with more detail.
This condition can be caused by any number of things including:
- Too much liquid – try decreasing water or milk by one to two tablespoons
- Not enough salt – try increasing salt by ¼ teaspoon
- Not enough flour – try increasing the flour by by one to two tablespoons
- Too much yeast – try decreasing yeast by ¼ to ½ teaspoon
- Flour – The flour might have been old or not the right type
- Yeast – The yeast might have been old or might have been the wrong type for the setting (regular yeast vs. rapid rise yeast)
So how do you go about fixing the problem? This is what I advise:
- As a first step, try making the bread again. Maybe you accidentally measured something wrong or forgot an ingredient.
- If you’re making the recipe correctly, the next step is to try it again making just one or two changes. Resist the temptation to change three or four items at once.
- Make notes about the changes. How did you vary the recipe? What was the result?
- Use your revised recipe as the new baseline. Look at the result, look at the variables and try again. For example, maybe you adjusted the yeast and didn’t notice enough of a change? No problem. On the next loaf make you can try an additional change to the yeast or maybe a change to the salt.
- Bread suffering from The Big Valley usually tastes just fine. If it doesn’t consider using it in one of these recipes for leftover bread.
Hi Marsha, thanks for all the info! Going to try your sour milk bread this afternoon.
My understanding is the Big Valley is usually caused by too much, or too rapid of a rise. The expanding CO2 from the yeast overwhelms the glutens ability to stretch (rise) and contain it. Note most all of your solutions are aimed at slowing yeast activity. Limiting food (sugar, qty/quality of yeast) or increasing salt which inhibits yeast or the quality (gluten) of the flour. One other thing I have tried with success in addition to those mentioned is adding, or adding more gluten. A couple teaspoons is usually enough for a 1.5# loaf.
David, thanks for the great tip!!
I am new to breadmaker-ing and am fighting the big valley. By the way, it makes me feel better to label it with a humorous term. Thanks for that! I decreased the water by a tablespoon and had little change; so I maintained that same water measurement and decreased the yeast by 1/4 tsp. I’ll try another 1/4 tsp. yeast decrease next time since I still have the sunken top. It’s not terrible, but I’d like to master this. Any encouragement or other suggestions for going forward are appreciated. FYI I’m starting with an Oster breadmaker…low end, I know.
Hi Janet, It sounds like you’re on the right track. Some recipes are worse than others. It took me quite awhile to get the potato bread recipe just right.
Hi,
I need some help here, please. My favorite bread machine recipe, Dill Onion, is just delicious and rises just fine. What happens is the sides (not the top) cave in. (I don’t think this is what youall are talking about re the ‘big valley’.). This does not effect the taste but it’s just frustrating not to be able to correct it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
L. Barker
Interesting! I haven’t had this happen to me, but I’ve heard about hourglass loaves of bread. It’s a tricky problem to solve. One thing that you might try is using a different flour. Try for one with slightly less gluten. If you’re adding an improver, like vital wheat gluten, try adding a little less. Are you baking the bread in the oven or in the bread machine? If you’re using the oven you might try cooking it at a slightly higher temperature or leaving it in for a little bit longer.