Bread Troubleshooter — Fix Common Bread Problems

Bread not doing what you expected? You’re in the right place.

Every baker — beginner or experienced — hits a wall at some point. The dough’s too sticky. The loaf came out flat. The crumb is dense and heavy when it should be light and open.

Most bread problems have a clear cause. Once you understand what went wrong, you can fix it — and it won’t happen again.

Use the troubleshooter below for a quick diagnosis, or scroll down for detailed answers to the most common baking problems. Either way, you’ll leave with a real answer.

Start here — what went wrong?

Select the closest match, or go straight into the full troubleshooter.

Answer a few quick questions, and I’ll suggest what might have caused the issue. It takes about 30 seconds.

Trouble shooter

Bread Troubleshooter created by Martin Judd — Strong White Bread School, Dorset, UK

This is a best guess based on typical patterns — but real baking is messy, so I may have missed something.

Did this get it right?

👍 Yes — spot on
🤔 Close, but missing something
❌ No — way off

What actually happened with your bread? (This helps improve the tool)

If you came from a forum, I’d really like to hear what result you got or send my your comment below

Thanks for taking the time.

Common Bread Problems (Quick Answers)

Below are the most common issues home bakers experience. Click a heading to see likely causes, or type your question into the Troubleshooter above.

Why Is My Bread Dense?

Dense bread almost always comes down to fermentation. The dough didn’t have enough time — or the right conditions — to develop the gas and structure it needed. If your loaf feels more like a brick than a loaf, under-proofing is the most likely culprit.

Gluten development matters too. Without proper kneading or folding, the dough can’t trap the gas that yeast produces — and without trapped gas, you get a tight, heavy crumb. Lower hydration doughs (less water relative to flour) will also produce a denser result, which isn’t always a problem — but it’s worth knowing.

The fix: give the dough more time, make sure your kitchen is warm enough (around 24–26°C is ideal), and don’t rush the proof. If the dough springs back slowly when you poke it, it’s ready.

Want to understand fermentation properly? It’s one of the first things we cover in the bread courses in Kent — hands-on, no guesswork.

Why Didn’t My Bread Rise?

No rise usually means one thing: fermentation stalled. And fermentation stalls for a handful of reasons — the most common being inactive yeast, a cold environment, or dough that was over-proofed and then collapsed.

If you’re using dried yeast, check the date. Yeast that’s past its best, or that was killed by water that was too hot, simply won’t work. The water you use to activate it should feel warm to the touch — not hot. Anywhere between 35–40°C is safe.

Cold kitchens are the other silent killer. Fermentation slows dramatically below 18°C. If your kitchen is cool, find a warmer spot — near a radiator, or inside an oven with just the light on. Give it more time, not more heat.

Sourdough not rising? That’s often a starter strength issue — covered in detail in our Simply Sourdough course.

Why Is My Dough Sticky?

Sticky dough is often not the problem — it’s the baker’s reaction to it. Higher hydration doughs (more water relative to flour) are naturally sticky, and that’s by design. They produce a more open, airy crumb. The mistake is adding more flour to compensate, which tightens the crumb and produces exactly the dense loaf you were trying to avoid.

That said, dough can be too sticky. If it’s impossible to handle, gluten development is likely the issue — the structure hasn’t built up enough to hold the water. Folding the dough every 30 minutes during the bulk ferment (instead of kneading) gives gluten time to develop without you needing to add more flour.

Warm kitchens make sticky dough worse. If your hands are warm and your kitchen is above 24°C, lightly wet hands (not floured) make handling much easier.

Handling high-hydration dough is one of those skills that clicks instantly when you feel it. Book a class and you’ll wonder why it ever frustrated you.

Why Is My Bread Gummy Inside?

A gummy crumb is almost always one of two things: the bread wasn’t fully baked, or it was sliced too soon. Both are easy to fix.

Under-baking is more common than people think — especially in home ovens, which often run cooler than the dial suggests. Use an oven thermometer to check the real temperature, and aim for an internal bread temperature of around 95–98°C before you pull it. The loaf should sound hollow when you tap the base.

Slicing too soon is the other culprit. Fresh-from-the-oven bread is still cooking — the steam inside is redistributing, and the crumb is setting. Give it at least 30–45 minutes to cool on a wire rack before you cut it. It’s hard to wait, but the texture is worth it.

Want to bake bread that’s right every time? See my upcoming classes in Kent.

Why Did My Bread Spread Instead of Rising?

Spreading happens when the dough can’t hold its shape — it goes outward instead of upward. The most common causes are over-proofing (the gluten structure has weakened and can’t hold gas), weak flour, or shaping that didn’t create enough surface tension.

Shaping is the skill most home bakers underestimate. A well-shaped loaf has a tight, taut surface — that tension is what holds the structure as it rises and bakes. If your loaf spreads consistently, practise your pre-shape and final shape. You’re looking for a smooth, taut surface with no tears.

High hydration doughs will always spread more than low hydration ones — if you’re using a very wet recipe without a banneton or tin to support the shape, that’s likely the issue.

Shaping is one of those things that’s genuinely hard to learn from a video. Come and feel it in person — bread courses in Kent.

Why Is My Crust Pale?

A pale crust means the Maillard reaction didn’t happen — that’s the browning process that gives bread its deep colour, crunch, and flavour. Three things cause it: oven temperature too low, not enough steam in the early stages of baking, or the bread was taken out too soon.

For a proper crust, your oven needs to be genuinely hot — at least 220°C, ideally 230–240°C. Preheat for at least 30 minutes, and if you’re using a baking stone or steel, preheat that too. Steam in the first 15–20 minutes keeps the surface pliable so the loaf can expand; after that, let it out so the crust can set and colour.

A Dutch oven (a cast iron pot with a lid) solves the steam problem neatly — the lid traps moisture from the dough itself. It’s the single biggest upgrade most home bakers can make.

Curious about oven technique? It’s all covered hands-on in my Kent bread courses.

Why Are There Large Holes in My Bread?

Big irregular holes — tunnels running through the crumb — are usually a shaping or over-fermentation issue. When dough is shaped without degassing properly, large gas pockets get trapped and bake in. Over-fermented dough can also develop uneven bubble structures that produce tunnels.

The fix is in the pre-shape and final shape. You don’t need to knock all the air out — you want to redistribute it evenly. Gentle but firm shaping, with good surface tension, produces an even crumb rather than random large holes.

Note: some breads — ciabatta, open-crumb sourdough — are meant to have a wild, holey crumb. If that’s what you were going for, you may have actually done it right.

Not sure which camp your loaf falls into? Ask Martin.

Why Is My Bread Dry?

Dry bread is almost always over-baked, or made from a recipe with too little water. The longer bread bakes, the more moisture it loses — and once that’s gone, you can’t get it back.

Check your hydration level. A standard white loaf at 65–70% hydration should produce a moist crumb. If you’re working with a very stiff dough, try increasing the water by 5% and see what difference it makes. Enriched doughs — those made with butter, milk, or eggs — are more forgiving and naturally stay moister for longer.

Storage matters too. Bread kept in a plastic bag goes soft but sweaty; bread left uncovered goes dry and stale. A cotton bread bag, or wrapped loosely in a tea towel, gives the best balance.

Want to nail your recipe from the start? Our courses in Kent cover recipe ratios from the ground up.

Why Is My Sourdough Flat?

Flat sourdough — a loaf that barely rises and bakes into a dense disc — comes down to one of three things: a weak starter, under-developed gluten, or over-proofing.

Your starter is the engine of the whole process. If it’s not doubling reliably within 4–8 hours of a feed, it’s not strong enough to leaven a loaf. Feed it consistently, keep it somewhere warm, and only bake with it when it’s active and bubbly — usually just as it starts to peak.

Gluten structure is the other half of the equation. Sourdough needs strong gluten to trap the gas that the starter produces. Stretch and folds during the bulk ferment build that structure gently. Four sets of folds, spaced 30 minutes apart, makes a significant difference to the final lift.

Sourdough is the most rewarding bread to master — and the one that most benefits from hands-on teaching. Simply Sourdough covers all of this start to finish.

Why Did My Bread Collapse?

Collapse after a good rise is a classic sign of over-proofing. The gluten structure stretched past its limit — it couldn’t hold the gas any longer, and the whole thing fell in on itself, either before the oven or in the early stages of baking.

The poke test is your friend: gently poke the dough with a floured finger. If it springs back quickly, it needs more time. If it springs back slowly and partially, it’s ready. If it doesn’t spring back at all, it’s over-proofed. At that point, degas it gently, reshape, and give it a shorter second proof — or bake it anyway, accepting a denser result.

Too much yeast can also cause collapse. More yeast doesn’t mean more rise — it means faster fermentation, which runs out of steam (literally) before the loaf bakes through. Use the amount in the recipe.

Understanding when dough is ready is one of the most valuable skills in baking. Come and learn it properly.