We can help you there, Mary Ann! When a loaf collapses in the oven, that just means the dough had over-risen. The gluten gets all tuckered out, and when it hits the heat of the oven, it doesn't have the strength to give you one final rise. If you shorten your rising time by 10 to 15 minutes you should be fine.
To know if your dough is ready to bake, you can do what we call the "poke test." When you give the dough a poke, you want your finger indent to stay there and slowly fill back in. If the indent pops right back out, it needs longer to rise. If the indent causes the loaf to collapse, it's already over-risen, so you'll want to deflate and reshape it before baking for best results.
Feel free to check out our blog article on over-risen doughs for some more helpful cues and tricks so your next loaf will be as wonderful as they always have been. Annabelle@KAF
July 3, 2018 at 7:40pm
In reply to Hello, I've made bread for a number of years and never had a pr… by Mary Ann Tyska (not verified)