Hi Wendy,

Egg yolks are more of a binder, and mostly fat (I think - can't find the link I wanted.) They will probably affect the moistness and texture of the bread more than the height. If the bread isn't moist enough, you could probably add 1/2 tsp or so of unflavored gelatin. I did find this from http://www.mrbreakfast.com/superdisp...?recipeid=1136 but I have never tried it.

Did the bread "fall"? Or did it just not rise high enough to begin with?

If it fell, the dough itself may have been a little too "wet". You may need to cut back on the liquid just a bit. I have yet to master that issue with most bread recipes. This is the first one where I haven't had that problem.

If the bread didn't rise high enough to begin with, just let it set a while longer. I turn the oven on and let it heat up, then shut it off as soon as I start measuring out the ingredients. That gives it time to cool enough so the yeast stays happy and doesn't die from too much heat. Then I'll put the loaf in the slightly warm oven and put a bowl of almost boiling hot water on the bottom of the oven. Bread seems to rise better with warmth and humidity. The original recipe stated the bread took 80 minutes to rise.

Or, the yeast may have not been very good. If it's not fresh and in date, you may want to toss it and get new.

Hopefully others will post their ideas/thoughts/tips as well. Almost everything I've learned about bread, I've learned here.

Kim knows a lot about eggs. Maybe she will post some tips. She'd posted some really good links on OBT, but even that cache is unavailable now.

Kim, do you still have the link to the site that talks about what eggs do in baking, what egg yolks do, what egg whites do, how to whip the whites, etc.? There was so much info there, and I didn't bookmark it.

Yay! I found the link! And bookmarked it. http://www.baking911.com/pantry/eggs.htm