I too have to watch as the bread mixes and kneads, adding water or
flour to get just right 'feel', just like when making bread without
the machine. It seems the changes in humidity and outside
temperature seems to affect the bread. Once I started watching the
dough, my loaves started coming out much better. I especially have
to watch, as each week as I make a different kind of bread-different
flours, fruits and nuts in it for added flavor and protein and I
haven't developed the fool proof recipes yet. So far the family is
pleased with the results.
I also started mixing all the dry ingredients before adding to the
bread pan. That seemed to help the consistency of the bread. I am
using a Breadman Plus TR700C.