Wendy, it's a good bet that the freshly ground flour was the reason for the "medium heavy" result. We're making assumptions here, but most fresh ground flour has a slightly coarser texture and is whole wheat (bran and germ included, in addition to the endosperm). It's not only more absorptive than the white flour this recipe calls for, but the sharp edges of bran can also cut through the gluten strands developed during kneading. Your freshly ground flour would likely make a great substitute for the whole wheat flour called for in other recipes, but for best results with this one, we'd recommend using just a small amount (25%) combined with mostly All-Purpose Flour. This should help to achieve the lighter, fluffier texture we're going for. To address the second issue, the sinking you describe sounds like it could have been the result of over-proofing. If a yeast dough is left out for too long before baking, the yeast exhausts itself and has no power left for oven spring or even oven maintenance. There are other factors that could be at play here too, but we'd need a little more info to be able to help, and we hope you'll consider giving our free Baker's Hotline a call at 855-371-BAKE to chat with one of our bakers directly. Mollie@KAF

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