What the hell happened to my loaf?

[gallicgirl]

Have a new breadmaker and made the first loaf yesterday. It was just a basic white loaf and it worked out fine.
Today I tried a seedy loaf. I followed the instructions carefully but it looks disastrous. The top is sunken and there appear to be bubbles at the bottom. The only thing I can think of that wasn't perfect was the flour. I used spelt flour that had been open a while.
Any ideas what the problem might be please?

How much salt did you use? Looks like it might have been a bit too wet? Did you use all spelt or a mixture of flours?

The inside looks like ciabatta and it tastes awesome however. Very odd.

All spelt. I thought it looked far too wet as it was kneading and double checked the ingredients.

Taste is the only important thing anyway!

Agree with the PP- about it being too wet & over proofing, it may cause your dough to rise then collapse on itself, and it have larger air holes.

Thanks panda. That description sounds very like how my bread appears.
I'll try a bit less water next time.

Until the novelty wears off, I suspect we're going to get fat eating lots of warm bread and butter!

I don't think spelt flour can take as mch water as white. I tend to use half spelt half white. Did your recipe include spelt?

No. Just normal white flour . I had some spelt fIour in so thought I'd use it up. I didn't know that about spelt so I'll have to experiment a bit with liquid amounts.

All flours need different amounts of water, easier to judge if you're making a loaf by hand as you can just add more water as you knead it.

Exactly.

Mind you, the machine obviously kneads better than I do as the bread is FAR fluffier than anything I manage!

Thank you for the advice.