The yogurt shouldn't be a problem reacting with yeast. Yeast actually works best in a mildly acidic environment, which is why ascorbic acid is often mixed with dry yeast products. To improve the rise of breads containing wheat germ and whole wheat flour (which contains wheat germ), I always add an acid ingredient to counteract the gluten-damaging effects of glutathione in the wheat germ. Bacteria (in yogurt and also present in bread dough made without yogurt) produces those tasty acids in bread dough that improve the flavors of bread when we refrigerate it. The acidity already present in sourdough starters help sourdough breads keep longer, inhibit mold growth and also slows staling, and you'll see the same qualities in breads made with yogurt. -Grainlady

Marilyn (fammsimm) - "Must this be done immediately or is it possible to freeze (or refrigerate) the dough for future baking? Any tips you could share?" The dough cycle on your bread machine is designed to make the dough only, up to the point where it needs to be formed, allowed to rise once more, then baked. This particular cycle feature comes in handy when you want to take the dough and make dinner rolls, hamburger/hot dog buns, cinnamon rolls, English Muffins, bread sticks, pizza, calazone, bierocks, kolaches, panned or free-formed loaves, etc. Things that must be formed and baked in your conventional oven. I'm a do-it-now personality, so I remove the dough from the bread machine and form, rise, and bake. The only time I retard bread dough (or items made with bread dough) is if I have too much to be accomodated in the oven and I don't want to risk over-proofing the dough before I can get it baked. So if I make 4 loaves and my oven only accodomates 2 loaves, I'll form the loaves, cover with plastic wrap, place 2 in the refrigerator to slow down the rising, allow the other two to raise, and bake. About the time the first two go into the oven, bring out the refrigerated loaves, and allow them to finish proofing. They should be ready to go into the oven about the time the first two come out. I also refrigerate half the dough when I make English Muffins because it's easier to work with in smaller amounts. It's all about timing and years of mistakes and experience. Bread is a very humbling thing... Here's where it can get tricky...especially for newbies. Can the dough be refrigerated? Yes. It's called retarding the dough. You can retard formed loaves for a few hours or dough for up to 5 days. To retard dough, you will need to remove it from the bread machine BEFORE it goes through a rise cycle (as soon as it stops kneading, remove it) to retard the dough in the refrigerator for later use. The dough will continue to rise, even in the cold confines of the refrigerator, and you may occasionally need to knock the dough down. The dough needs to be well-covered in a sealed dough-rising bucket, or a bowl covered with plastic wrap so the "skin" of the dough doesn't dehydrate in the refrigerator. A helpful hint when making refrigerator dough: they keep best if there is some potato - or any pureed vegetable - (mashed potatoes, potato flakes, etc.) in the recipe. The potato preserves moisture in the dry climate of the refrigerator. But any type of dough can be refrigerated successfully for a short period of time, up to 12-24 hours. If you are going to keep it for several days, you will want to choose a recipe with some potato in it. Most refrigerator dough is ready to use after 8 hours, and will keep for up to 5 days. When you are ready to use refrigerated dough, punch it down. Shape, cover, let rise and bake. One of the famous recipes for this type of dough is Betty Crocker Potato Refrigerator Dough. You can Google the recipe to give you an idea of what you can make with refrigerator dough, even though it's not a bread machine recipe. Retarding dough in the refrigerator is also a way to add flavor to the bread. Can the dough be frozen? Yes. It is best if you form it before you freeze it, and needs to be used within 4 weeks, whereas baked bread can keep for 3 months in the freezer. Check the link below for complete information about freezer dough. I'm like many of the others, I only use my bread machine for making dough. I don't even let it rise in the bread machine. I use a dough rising bucket instead, so that I can judge when the dough has doubled. Dough doesn't rise to a clock and it's easy for dough to over-proof in a bread machine. But bread machines are great labor-saving devices when it comes to kneading. I have carpal tunnel and tennis elbow in both arms and wouldn't trade my Zojirushi for anything (other than another Zojirushi). The bread machine is what I use to make all our yeast and sourdough breads and I bake some kind of bread/s at least once or twice a week. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Baking 911 - freezing bread dough

I don't heat my liquids at all. I always have good results. I never use extra gluten or special yeast. I buy my yeast in bulk at my local health food store, and normally I use a tablespoon of yeast for a two pound loaf. I keep my yeast in the refrigerator, or, if I have bought a really large bag of it, I will keep most of it in the freezer. If you're using whole wheat flour, add a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice. You won't taste it and it helps the rise. If the recipe calls for white flour AND whole wheat, always make the white flour be bread flour. If I don't use bread flour, I add about half a cup of mashed potatoes (or 1/4 cup of instant mashed potato flakes) into the mixture. The problem might be your recipe, might be calling for too much or too little fat and sugar. If you have a failure with a recipe, try a different one next time. Barnmom, it looks like you might've had a little too much liquid. If I'm trying a new recipe I will watch it while the machine kneads the dough. If the dough does not form up into a nice ball during the kneading process, cleaning the sides and bottom of the can, then it will rise up nicely but fall during baking. Hope this helps! --Ilene

FLsandytoes- Proofing the yeast was an interesting "new" twist to making fluffy bread in a bread machine, and one I've never come across. I think there are probably much better methods, but one just never knows..... I had a friend who used fresh yeast in his bread machine and it had to be proofed, so there are some applications for this process in a bread machine. I have a recipe for white sandwich bread that uses 1 cup of white cake mix, as another interesting example for making "fluffy" white bread, due to the soft wheat flour in the cake mix. FYI -- Two tablespoons of non-fat powdered milk, reconstituted, equals 1/2 c. of milk - which is a reasonable amount of milk in a bread recipe without causing crumb and crust problems. Much more than that and you will need to scald the milk first to avoid the textural problems caused by too much milk (from the milk whey protein). Heating the milk denatures the problematic protein. Try the recipe with 1/2 c. of milk and the remaining liquid water and see if you get different results. You will STILL need to adjust the dough for correct hydration (soft sticky ball) while it's starting to knead. --To improve 100% whole wheat bread, add an acidic ingredient, such as ascorbic acid. Some yeast products add ascorbic acid to the yeast. Yeast works better and longer in a slightly acidic atmosphere. There is a substance in wheat germ called Glutathione which breaks down the gluten - and is why we have trouble getting high-rising, fluffy, loaves of whole wheat bread without lightening the loaf by adding bleached/unbleached flour. By adding ascorbic acid it will help counteract the negative effects of Glutathione and will help repair broken gluten bonds (which is the cause of short, compact, squatty loaves). Add 1/8 t. of ascorbic acid (Fruit Fresh will work - it's a mix of ascorbic and citric acid) per 3-cups of flour. You may also find some recipes for 100% whole wheat bread that add lemon juice or vinegar for the same acidic effect, but it takes a lot more lemon juice or vinegar than it does ascorbic acid. You would have to use 6-times as much lemon juice to be as effective as ascorbic acid. -- Another way to lighten 100% whole wheat bread is to do a sponge with a portion of the flour for at least 1-1/2 hours, and as long as overnight. When I incorporated this method I got high-rising loaves of 100% whole wheat bread that were equal to any light-wheat and white breads I made. Soaking whole wheat flour helps lighten the loaf by softening the bran (bran cuts the gluten) and it gives the gluten time to absorb moisture, which creates strong gluten bonds without manipulation (kneading). I always use a sponge method for 100% whole wheat bread made in the bread machine. -- When adding 10-Grain Cereal Mixture, add it towards the end of kneading at the add-in beep. This goes for anything that may have a sharp edge, like nuts, dried fruit, etc. Adding dried fruit (raisins) early in the process and the kneading will pulverize them. If you add this coarse grind of grains/seeds/beans early in the dough making process it will cut the gluten strands as the dough kneads and you'll end up with a short squatty loaf because of the cut gluten. I prefer adding a dry mixture at the add-in beep because I like the "toothy" nuggets from the cereal mixture. If you don't want that much texture, you may want to soak the mixture first, but still wait to add it at the add-in beep towards the end of kneading. -- Another way to improve 100% whole wheat bread is to wait to add the salt and fat after the dough is kneading and the gluten is well developed. Once you add salt, the gluten tightens and kneading is more difficult - with a bread machine or by hand. Adding the fat early in the mixing/kneading "shortens" the gluten strands and development for a finer textured loaf. You can make the exact same recipe, and by adding the fat early or adding the fat late, it will alter the crumb and size of the loaf. Adding fat early for a close crumb (bread used for sandwiches), add it late for a more open crumb (bread used for toasting). These options are neither right or wrong - but are options to help control the crumb of the bread. --The same bread making rules and techniques that apply to making bread without the bread machine also apply to making bread IN a bread machine - such as when to add salt and fat. Bread machines are designed to make bread quick and easy and doesn't always take into considerations these rules and techniques. -- Check the dough for proper hydration while it's kneading, not after it's rising, while you still have time for the ingredients to be mixed into the dough. -- I only use the bread machine for mixing and kneading dough. As soon as it has completed the kneading I stop the bread machine and remove the dough and place it in a dough-rising bucket. I don't want a machine with a timed rise to determine when the dough has "doubled", which is actually determined by the strength of the yeast, moisture and ambient temperature, not a clock. If I have 1-quart of dough patted into the bottom of the dough-rising bucket, I know it has doubled when it gets to the 2-quart line -- whether it takes 25-minutes or 1-hour. In fact, it's better to only allow dough to rise to just UNDER double because our flour no longer has the extensibility it did as when it was bromated, and whole wheat flour was never bromated. The reasons not to use milk for proofing: 1. Water is more reliable than milk. 2. When proofing yeast in milk use 4-times the amount of milk as yeast. Yeast also tends to clump in milk and not proof as well. If you have to stir the milk/yeast mixture, you will end up killing some of the yeast. 3. Yeast works best with sucrose (table sugar) over lactose (milk sugar). 4. Yeast granules can become coated with milk fat (much like fat coats flour when making pastry) which can restrict water from entering and dissolving the yeast. -Grainlady