I just got a new machine and have yet to find the right mix. Everything I make is to heavy and dense. I would like a old fashioned country loaf. Any ideas? Thanks

Have you tried one of the premixed boxes ?

Yep. Do it like Gramma did. Knead it by hand. Let it double in a warm kitxchen. Knead it again and put it in your loaf pan. Let it rise again till its at least doubled.

Sifting the flour before I added it seemed to help me a lot on the heavy dense issues.
Didn't realize flour packed that tight in storage.
Which will change the flour to liquid ratio as explained to me.

( 2 cups compacted may equal 2.5 or more after sifted.)

You know this post is really funny to me because our dryer broke down this week and our family is the type of family that fixes it till you can’t fix it anymore. Well it sounded like a bread machine my parents said and it did. Our appliances a 20 plus years old so my dad tried looking for the part and found it it working again.

Do your bread by weight instead of by volume.

Ttt

I used to be able get nice loaves of bread from mine, but lately they've all been dense and heavy.

My wife switched flour brands on me and I think that's where most of my problems lie. Also I went from using bread machine/fast rising yeast to a slower working type.

Cooking is art, Baking is science. Unless you are very consistent in your measures when baking your outcomes will be hit or miss. You can get a decent
digital scale for $20$ or $30 . Buy a small gram scale as well, It helps when weighing yeast.

Ttt

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17215/best-bread-machine-bread/

My wife recently bought a bread machine and so far she really likes the recipe above.