In your first message you asked: "Could following a machine recipe and an overnight rise in the frig and then baking it next day be helpful?"and I wanted to answer that yes, doing that makes a big difference, giving the flavors of the dough time to mature. I mix all my bread in the bread machine, and almost always either use some sort of preferment (sponge/poolish/biga) or retard the dough in the fridge overnight -- sometimes both, depending on how I'm fitting the bread into my schedule.

Another reason for the difference in flavor between bread machine and hand-made bread is that bread machine recipes use way too much yeast, in order to make the bread rise on schedule for the machine. For the best flavor, you want to use as little yeast as you can get away with, and let the bread rise extra time to compensate. The longer rise gives time for the flour and yeast enzymes to make more flavors in the bread, and using less yeast gives you less of that over-yeasted bread machine flavor.

I put about 1/4 tsp of yeast in my pre-ferment, and then add another 1/2 tsp of yeast when I mix in the rest of the ingredients. I run the dough cycle, and then shape the loaf and let it rise until it's the right size to bake. One big advantage to the dough cycle is that you can let this last rise be as long as is needed to compensate for using less yeast -- though if you've done a preferment, it will usually rise quite nicely. I bake when poking the dough makes a dent that fills itself in about 2/3 of the way.

For bigger holes, make sure the dough is moist (forms a somewhat sticky ball when the machine is kneading, but slumps down pretty flat when the kneading stops). When you remove the risen dough from the machine, do so gently so you don't completely deflate it -- ditto for when you shape it. You might also try removing it from the machine just after kneading, and letting it rise in a shallow greased bowl -- easier to get it out without deflating it completely.

I also second the recommendation for _Rustic European Breads from your Bread Machine_ by Eckhardt and Butts. Another good book that uses preferments and shaping outside the machine is one by Jennie Shapter called (same book, different editions) _Bread Machine: how to prepare and bake the perfect loaf_ or_The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook_ (don't confuse with the book by Tom Lacalamita by the same name). I enjoy the Shapter book because of the visuals: excellent pictures of the steps to take and lovely pics of the finished breads. These two are my "desert island" bread machine books...

I have made some tasty soft breads in the bread machine with preferments, bigas, and sourdough starters (in fact I have a picture of a semi-sourdough I made this weekend that I need to upload and post).

The problem for me comes with the overnight cycle. My family would prefer that the bread be fresh in the morning, and in terms of timing and quality that works well. But I can't get the preferments to work when I use the timer; they fail to mix well with the remaining dry ingredients when the cycle starts at 3 AM and the result is a mess of baked lumps. When I run the machne during the day I can poke the mix a bit with a spatula and remove the doughball for a few quick kneads if necessary - but I ain't gettin up at 3:15 AM to do that!

Has anyone had success using poolish in the overnight cycle of their machine? I have a Zorij 2-paddle type.

Thanks.

sPh

I recently received the Rustic European Breads cookbook that was recommended in this post and I just wanted to say it is exactly what I was looking for. I've already made bread and a few starters and poolish(s). I was not able to get the Shapter book from the library so I will have to order that along with my own copy of the Rustic book. I would definitely recommend it to get over the bread machine blahs. Thanks for the recommendations!