The key to good breadmaking is knowing how the ingredients work together. In order to do this, I think you've got to make it by hand at least once. I do use a breadmaker, but I monitor it (and I really only use it because I hate washing all those dishes). I searched around for the best breadmaker I could find and I still turn out lumps of coal from time to time.

It really doesn't take that much effort to make bread by hand, it's just a bit time consuming because you have to do something with it every hour or so for 3 or 4 hours.

Here are some general breadmaking tips:

• You MUST have fresh yeast, salt, flour, warm water, and a sweetener. If your recipe doesn't have one of those ingredients, find a new one.
  
• Don't add any nuts, seeds, or anything like that until you've made a good loaf. All of these things weigh it down and you have to experiment to get the right amount.
  
• To test the yeast, dissolve some in warm (not hot) water. If it doesn't start bubbling in 5-10 minutes, throw it out.
  
• Wheat bread will always be denser than white. But you can lighten it by mixing wheat & white flour.
  
• Use vital wheat gluten with your flour. You can find it with the other specialty flours like oat, rye, etc. Bob's Red Mill makes some. Add 1 tsp gluten per cup of non-white flour. This will help make the dough rise.
  
• Use the "bread" flour. I think it's a finer grind or something, but it seems to work better.

And a foolproof recipe from Mamma Gina's Mamma:

(This makes 3 loaves, so make sure you have 3 loaf pans)
2 T dry yeast (2 packets)
1 T salt
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. honey
2 1/2 c. warm water
1 c. skim milk powder
2 c. white flour
3 eggs (room temperature)
6-7 c. whole wheat flour (mixed with 6-7 t. vital wheat gluten)

1. Add yeast and salt to a large mixing bowl.
   
2. Stir in oil and honey (measure the oil first, then use the same measuring cup for the honey - it will slide right out).
   
3. Add the water, milk powder, and white flour, then stir in the eggs.
   
4. Add 5 cups of the whole wheat flour by stirring in about 2 cups at a time.
   
5. Dump another cup on the kneading board and drop the dough on top.
   
6. Knead in the flour, adding as much of the 7th cup of flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Knead for 10-15 minutes by folding the dough in half, rotating it 90 degrees, flattening it out, and folding in half again.
   
7. Dump 1 T or so of oil in the bottom of a large bowl. Place the dough in the bowl, then sorta roll it around so the outside is coated with oil. Cover the bowl with a damp towel or saran wrap and let it rise in a draft-free area (70-80 degrees would be perfect) for about an hour. The dough should be double in size.
   
8. Punch the dough down, then divide into 3 loaves and place in loaf pans. Let the dough rise again for about 1/2 hour. Again, it should be double in size.
   
9. Bake for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees (don't preheat the oven).

There! Once you've done this once, you will see what needs to happen and you can keep an eye on your breadmaker. Sometimes it just doesn't allow enough time for rising, and you can shut it off or adjust the rising time.