New Bread Machine User

I think it would be better if you use the recipes that came with the machine as templates and then tweaking them. If your bread machine came with no recipes then may I suggest you have a look at this manual? Lovely recipes. Find the size that suits your machine, each recipe comes in 3 sizes, and then choose a setting which closely matches the one in the recipe. See how it turns out. 

Hi,

If I use about 500 gr whole wheat, 90 gr starter, 80% overall hydration (so about total of 400 gr water) then the dough is about 950 gr ( about 2 lb). In my bread machine I bake in my own loaf pan. It rises about an inch above the rim of the pan.  Does this help you imagine the size loaf you can get?

The size of the loaf is one of the very few constraints that your bread maker will impose on you. The recipes will work the same on all bread makers: they knead (once or more), rise (once or more), and bake. Each of them has its quirks but, basically, what works in one machine will work on another machine.

If the recipe calls for 90 minutes cooking and yours only arrive to 60 minutes, add a "bake only" 30' cycle at the end of the cooking. If the recipe calls for two fermenting cycles of 2 hours, and your machine doesn't do that, do that by hand. Ultimately, it's bread, it's technology which is around since 5000 years or more.

Loaf size is a serious constraint: if you go past the limits of your machine, you can damage it. Actually, you can damage it also within its limits, as far as kneading is concerned. That really is the main constraint.

The "size" of the loaf is implied in the recipe. If you use 600 grams flour, and 500 grams water, you will end up with a bread which is a little less than 1 kg. Check the manual of your bread maker for the indication of the maximum flour (or the maximum "dry ingredients weight"). If your recipe calls for 1 kg flour, and your machine complains with more than 600 grams, use 60% of all ingredients.

Or, maybe, I did not get the meaning of your question, really.

In general terms, all recipes work with all machines, if you size them properly, and if you refine them properly. Scale everything. Cook until the inner of the loaf is 95°C. Keep notes, and you will have a repeatable recipe.

Kneading is something you have to watch in any case, at least initially for any given recipe, so that you can adjust water and flour, this is inescapable, and it is foolish to think that one can put flour, water etc. in the machine first attempt, and have the bread the morning after, just because you followed the instruction manual. You have to tweak your recipe for your ambient condition, your flour, your water etc. before you can make a bread "automagically".

You only need one program in your bread maker, the "custom cycle". Then, you can use any recipe from any bread maker. I downloaded user manuals for 15 bread makers. I suggest you do the same. You will find in each of them some wisdom, regarding problem-solving, or recipe variations. Bread is bread is bread. It's not complicated when one understands that some sub-prime loafs are the price to pay for many good loafs. I understood this too late! But now I got it, and I want to share the wisdom :-)

Dense loaf is the result of not enough salt, too much yeast, too much water, too much sugar, too warm kitchen, too long fermentation. Basically, your yeast works overtime and then your dough goes on strike. Take out sugar; put 1% sea salt (no iodine); if that doesn't work, reduce temperature (use cold ingredients), reduce fermentation time, maybe reduce yeast. Try to add some acid (lemon juice, ascorbic acid) to your dough.

Especially, describe in detail what recipe are you going to execute, and how.