Hello! I had the same problem and I know what's going on! I had received a wonderful sourdough bread starter (over 8-years old and very, very sour and yummy), but when I followed the instructions to a "T", I got a 1 1/2 pound loaf which was a total of 3" tall; great paperweight, lousy loaf of bread. I finally watched the machine during the cooking process and found it rose during both rising times in the machine, but fell flat as can be during the baking process. Problem: too much moisture. When I watched the kneading process I found the dough never pulled away from the breadpan walls; it was too wet. I started adding extra flour, 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough formed a nice, spongy ball in the bottom of the breadpan and, when the bread was done, I had a beautiful loaf. I kept track of the additional flour I had added for future loaves, but found that weather conditions effected the bread-moisture on a daily basis, so it's important to keep track of the weather reports. If it's a particularly humid day, add an additional tablespoon of flour, but if the forecast predicts dry days ahead, cut back by a tablespoon. You should have great results, I promise. Trust me, I was there. ... View related article.
