Any feedback appreciated on this Bread Machine recipe

I use my breadmaker to knead my dough. I actually like using it better than my Kitchen Aid mixer. I prefer to have more control over my final rise and baking time, so I do that part in the oven.

Hi Jimzenglish, I've had excellent results from the dough cycle of my bread machine(s) and proving in a banneton. There are some great videos on YouTube on shaping dough into boules and bâtards, if you want to go free-form. I'd recommend baking on a pre-heated heavy pizza stone, if you have one.  Happy baking! Colin.

The above ideas are great. Once you view your bread machine a mixer, you can take your bread in a lot of directions.

No bread made in a bread machine will equal what can be done with hands to fold and shape and an oven to bake.

Ah, but that wonderful "set it an forget it" aspect is lost. In the warmer months I spend a lot of time doing things with "dirt factors" incompatible with a lot of hands on work. And not much beats the feeling of coming in from the field (for me, literally) and coming home to the smell of fresh bread and a house not heated up from the oven.

So, some suggestions for a bread made totally in a bread machine.

1. Use a pre ferment. This is taking a portion of the flour mixing it with water and a very small amount of yeast (or sourdough starter) and letting it ferment until ripe - usually overnight. I do a recipe where I use a combination of white and whole wheat flours. I use 46% of the weight of my white flour (and an equal amount by weight of water) in an overnight pre ferment. Use the search feature and the tutorial on these pages to learn about pre ferments. It will be well worth your while. This pre ferment is simply added when the water would be added to the bread machine "pan" and away you go.
2. You may wish to consider increasing the amount of your whole meal flour. I use about 35% of the total flour of whole grain (and this does not include additions like oat flakes or oat flour). This would up your wholemeal flour to about 101 gms and your white flour would decrease to about 188 gms. I have made 100% whole wheat bread in the bread machine (absolutely without the adulteration of vital wheat gluten), but this does require a sourdough pre ferment.
3. Use honey - or better yet, use a mix of sweeteners. A small portion of blackstrap molasses (or treacle, maybe?) will bring some depth to the flavor.
4. Butter instead of oil - unless you are vegan.
5. Substitute triticale flakes for the oats. For that matter, don't grind the oats, use oat flakes - they will incorporate nicely during the initial pause cycle without grinding them. (Triticale - now we are headed near the rabbit hole...)
6. Fresh grind your whole wheat. (And now we've gone down the rabbit hole.)

The biggest change you can make is a pre ferment, you will find it changes many things in your bread.

Have fun!