You’ll succumb, mitch, you can’t resist freshly baked bread.
I also use a machine, one of the expensive Panasonic ones that adds the yeast in the middle of the night part way through the program, it means I get fresh bread early in the morning, and helps with the length of time it takes for the yeast to do its job on the flour without any sugar being needed. French bread program, 6 hours, plus a few hours waiting to start the program on the timer, just load the machine the night before & wake to that fresh bread smell permeating the house…. irresistable.
Current loaf is 400g of bread flour, of which 150g was wholemeal, gorgeous soft & fluffy inside with a just hard enough crust. Recipe? here you go:
400g strong bread flour (use at least 200g strong white, the rest wholemeal)
15g unsalted butter (this will help with the hard crispy but not too thick crust)
400ml tap water
1 teaspoon of yeast, added part way through the process