Why is my bread hard as a brick on the outside yet tender and nice on the inside?

Question

The machine:
Welbuilt  bread machine. Model number ABM 550
Note: I do not have the instruction booklet that came with the machine

Put these ingredients in order in machine:

1 cup warm milk
2 tablespoon melted butta
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 cups bread flour
2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon honey
3 teaspoons yeast

Set for quik bread. Hit start
When bread dough ball is formed (after 30 minutes) 
remove the dough and get the paddle out. 
Grease the bucket and reload.
Unplug machine.
Let rise one hour then plug er back in, 
set for quick bread and let er rip

Notes:

Adding Ingredients:

    liquids- I usually start out by adding fairly hot liquid (120 degrees) and find that by the time I have added all the ingredients, the water has cooled to the proper temperature. (Do not do this if you are using a delayed heating cycle.)

    Butter - Melt or soften butter or margarine in the microwave before adding it to the machine.

    Eggs - Bring egg to room temperature by placing in a cup of really warm water for several minutes before adding.

    Refrigerated Ingredients - Heat anything taken from the refrigerator (milk, buttermilk, cottage cheese, etc.) in the microwave until it is warm to the touch, about 1 minute.

   Flour - For most breads, you should use bread flour. 
Use 1 teaspoon of instant yeast per cup of flour. If the recipe calls for over 3 cups of flour, I still use only 3 teaspoons. This gives me a taller and well-textured loaf. Sometimes, if the day is warm and humid, I cut back 1/2 teaspoon to prevent over proofing. The rapid dough cycle is the only cycle I use on my bread machine. Store your yeast in the refrigerator for a longer life.

Here is what happened so far. The first attempt I added in the wet first and then the dry. I hit quick bread and let it do its thang.  Did not remove the paddle didn't let it rise and I came out with a short brick.
The second attempt yeaterday I let it mix then dumped it out and fished out the paddle then dumped it back into the bread machine and let it sit for an hour and it rose slightly over the top.
At that point I was scared it was going to overflow so I poked is a little bit and it fell a couple inches. Then I set the machine for quick bread and let it rip. It made a nice block of stone with a hard dark crust and the innards were very nice. The dog certainly likes it. Makes excellent croutons and the house smells good while it is doing it's thang. I just wish I had some directions for working the machine. I looked on line and apparently the bread machine predates the internet and nothing can be found in the form of a pdf document on baking bread. Need help! 
Thanking yall in advance

Del Mer · Accepted Answer

The thermostat could be misadjusted, or just dirty.
My machine has a small "button" that sticks out and touches the pan. That is the thermostat, if crap builds up and it doesn't touch firmly it won't get a good reading and it bakes too hot.
That seems like a little much yeasts, my uses 1-1/2 tsp for 2 cups flour, less for "bread-machine" yeast.

I find the most useful feature is to make the dough in the machine, put the dough in a loaf pan to rise, bake it in the oven till the sides barely pull away from the loaf pan. Let the loaf stand till cool before cutting or it "smooshes" flat.

Bread can take some experimentation since daily humidity can affect the flour's moisture content a bit. For 3 cups flour my water "starting point" is 11 oz (22 TBSP), the may explain the brickiness.

? · Answer

My guess is that the problem is that, as you say, you're following the recipe exactly. Bread that's too dense is made with too much flour, and the amount of flour that a given dough needs is dependent as much on humidity, the particulars and age of the flour, things like that. New bread bakers almost always make their dough too stiff; finding it hard to work with the sticky lump that's really the ideal. Add only enough flour to make a workable dough; it should be very sticky, and just practice until you can handle it without adding more flour. Little yeast, long rise, sticky dough are the keys to a good, light loaf.

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Why is my bread hard as a brick on the outside yet tender and nice on the inside?

2 Answers