Grace,
Since you've tried two kinds of yeast, the lack of a rise is probably not
your yeast. With a bread machine, I've found that strict adherence to
recipes doesn't always work. I've had several bread machines including a
Breadman and generally got decent bread out of all of them. Here's what I
would try:
Don't be afraid to open the lid and see what's going on. About 10 minutes
into the knead cycle, look inside and test the consistency of your bread
dough. You don't want a hard ball, but rather a soft, pliable one. Most
of my failures have resulted from too much flour and I find it's better to
err on the side of a too-wet dough than a too-dry one. How are you
measuring ingredients? Some folks swear by the scoop and scrape method and
others prefer the stir and spoon method of measuring flour. I use a scale.
Are you using bread flour or regular all-purpose flour? Bread flour has a
higher gluten content and makes much better bread. That said, you should
still be getting "some" rise from all purpose.
If your dough seems fine during the knead cycle, check again at the
rise. You won't want to look often at this stage, lest you cool off the
dough too much but a brief peek or two never seemed to hurt mine. Stick
your hand under the lid and make sure it's warming up correctly - your
heating element just might be defective. Touch the dough as well and make
sure it's not gotten too dry or hard.
This may not be true, but I've heard that contact with the salt inactivates
the yeast, so try putting your salt where it won't have direct contact with
the yeast.
Keep trying and you'll get a perfect loaf unless the machine has problems.
Bev C