I have been making bread in my Panasonic bread making machine. and it has been very good-nice crisp loaves with the bread texture very nice. It is a quality machine and i was surprised that it could be stored for a couple of years and yet work again properly.
I recently started making bread in it again-all good
I have changed nothing however after 6 months of use the bread has now become crumbly and scone like
We use half white bread making flour and half a commercial multi grain mix plus salt, powdered milk,butter , water & dried yeast.
The weird part is that I have changed nothing and this has happened.suddenly. Have some of my ingredients become stale??
Can anyone help with this?
Maybe its possible that some of your ingredients are bad/stale, check the expiry dates.
However, my guess is simply that the butter and milk powder tenderize the dough, resulting in a softer dough. Fat is used to prevent gluten from forming (it encapsulates the proteins), resulting in a much more tender and crumbly loaf.
My approach would be to mix longer until you have some clear gluten formation (think of brioche dough). Maybe your machine somehow mixes slower/shorter time over the years?