Hi,
I have a Cuisinart Bread Machine and when I follow the recipes from their book and a couple of other books exactly, I get good tasting, extremely dense bread, that comes out about the size of a softball, maybe a little bigger.
I have tried buying new yeast before each attempt, buying new flour, making the warm water warmer and cooler, adding more or less sugar, and nothing seems to work.
I live at sea level, literally. The ocean is 500 feet in front of my house. I live on the beach in Costa Rica. I want to sell my house, by the way, if you are interested, very reasonable price. 
It is humid here because it so close to the ocean, the outside temperature is between 70 and 90 year round. It’ve tried making the bread at different times of the day and when it sunny or cloudy. It always comes out the same.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Carole
I never remove the bread dough from the machine until it has finished the entire mixing/raising/baking cycle.
Carole
I take everything out of the fridge at least an hour before I make the bread. I live in Costa Rica and your choice for yeast is yeast or yeast. They sell it either by the Tablespoon or by the kilo (a little over two pounds). I usually buy it by the Tablespoon just because I’ve had such bad luck that I rarely bake anymore. When I lived in AZ my late husband did the baking and his always turned out beautiful.
I use whole milk powder as they don’t have the instant non-fat milk powder.
I have looked and have never been able to find high gluten powder.
The bread always smells really good, so trust me it never sits in the maker very long.
I’m thinking maybe it could be that the water is not hot enough. I will have to look for a thermometer. Would a candy thermometer work? I have one of those but finding any other kind will require a four hour drive which I only do once a month and that was last Friday.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll try the water and let you know if that helps any. I was always afraid that I’d get it too hot.
Carole
Thanks so much for all the advice. I’ll keep experimenting, starting with the water first. I have tried purchasing stuff online but the price is more than double with the shipping and then when it gets here the government adds on a percentage as an import fee. And it takes about six weeks to get here. You really have to plan ahead and REALLY want whatever it is you are ordering. I’ll be so glad when I get moved back to the states. I miss Walmart and Home Depot. LOL.
Thanks again I’m going to check out your websites too, Carole