Oven Thermometer. Your oven may read 350 degrees--but that's a setting not the actual temperature. It goes up and down as the oven heats and cools. The only way you'll know is with a thermometer.
Bread Proofing Bags. Don't trap your dough in a bowl with plastic stretched over the top. Put the bowl in a proofing bag that captures the moisture and the heat and let it rise.
Wheat Gluten. A good high protein flour works just fine for white breads. But when you start adding whole grains or whole wheat flour, you need to add wheat gluten.
Kitchen thermometer. It's been said that a kitchen thermometer is the baker's secret weapon. Use it to measure the water temperature, and the dough (ideally, it's 79 degrees before baking). Stick the thermometer through the side of the loaf--it's done when it reaches 190 degrees.
