We can easily spend $15-20 a week on bread. I began to make as much of my own bread as possible to see if this could make a difference and not be too onerous. Disclaimer: I am retired. I buy unbleached store brand flour. I made a batch of homemade dough conditioner (lecithin-citric acid-ginger powder recipes online) and I use inexpensive but fresh instant yeast. I found a brand new Zo at a thrift store and couldn’t resist it. First loaf used the Zo recipe with unbleached flour and my dough conditioner and was perfect. After that the problems began. Mostly the lopsided loaf. I tried taking the paddles out and that made even bigger holes — will try the non-stick foil trick next time. But I found that if you remove the dough before the final rise after the last knead — this is at 1 hour and 30 minutes left on the basic quick cycle of the Zo Supreme machine— do a quick knead on a board. Roll and shape the dough and put back into the machine and let it bake. Should be even. And my machine always bakes darker on the left side. Another baker suggests that you carefully align the paddles to avoid lopsided loaf. Anyway I like a softer crust so I paint my bread top with butter when I take it out. Moral here: you won’t get perfect bread all the time. I have made quite a few bricks. Have also over proofed dough and had the dreaded collapse. Still ate the bread as neither was the end of the world. If you keep making bread and keep a mental note of what you are doing and how you changed this or that, you will become a proficient bread baker in time.

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