Breadmaker owners, help needed please

[Blossomhill]

Just made my first loaf of wholemeal bread and it is delicious. However it's quite small and I am wondering if it was

1. the temp of water I used (it says 75-85 degrees but how on earth can I check as don't have thermometer)

2. The yeast I used. I used 1 sachet.

Please help as only have enough bread for dh's sandwiches and need more for the rest of us

TIA xx

Would too much yeast make it smaller then trefusis?

trefusis - do you mind if i ask what yr name means? don't worry if you don't want to reveal, it just always intrigues me

Oh I used 50% white and 50% wholemeal as I didn't want it too heavy iykwim

Ours also needs less yeast than that, but it could be that your yeast was old - it goes off - check the date. Wholemeal makes smaller loaves as they don't rise as much. And it could just be that you were making a small loaf. We make the small size in ours which requires 400g of flour. If you make the bigger size it is big, but the shape of a castle tower and so the slices are too long and fall apart.

One thing you can do (maybe, depends on the breadmaker) is use it to make batches of dough, then bake the dough in the oven - that way you can make more bread faster.