I use KA white whole wheat flour (excellent!) and a Zojirushi in the homemade cycle, where I set the times for each stage. The maximum for "resting" (they don't say autolyse but they should because that's what it must be, right?) and kneading is 30 min. each. Then after kneading there's a "shape" stage where you're supposed to shape the dough into a loaf, but it's either 1 hour or nothing, which seems weird to me since it takes all of 2 minutes to shape it - is that really for more resting for whatever reason? I follow the recommended order of ingredients, including gluten, and near the end of kneading I add seeds. First two rises I set at 1 hr each, 1:30 for 3rd rise, 1:20 or so to bake. Sometimes this works (i.e., nice, light, rounded loaf) and sometimes it doesn't (flat, heavy). I suspect something is happening early on in autolyse that I'm not doing right - like I don't mix the flour and water myself, just add the flour to the water then the other ingredients on top and let it sit for 30 min. Would it help or hurt to mix it myself and then add the other ingredients just as kneading starts, since the first minutes of kneading is actually mixing? I also use 1/4 c. potato flakes; should potato flakes, salt and/or sugar go in earlier? A dough enhancer (I was using a commercial brand, now just apple cider vinegar - 2 tbsp). After the 2nd rise I put the dough in a bread pan and pop it back in the machine to bake. I sure would like consistent results of the light, airy kind - my wife rolls her eyes as I stand there cursing at a flattened, heavy loaf (which is edible, but still...).

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