I was a bread maker newbie like 2 weeks ago. Once you start giving it a go you'll be hooked, well I am. Lol. I hang out for the hours to pass to see if my bread turned out good. I've so far had one rock, and one that's risen so much I had to put tins on the lid to keep it down for the last 15 or so mins. Bahaha! It tasted awesome though. The other ones I made turned out pretty well, oh and the pizza dough was delish too.

Sorry I can't really help out much. I am just going by the recipes in the booklet that came with mine, and I'm a super beginner still.

Oh, I was told to keep my yeast in the fridge. It keeps better or something. So that's what I do.

Good luck with it all. I hope it all goes great!