Making one's bread rise just the right amount is a tricky business. In the experimental loaves I got everything form a two-inch loaf to an eight-inch blowout. Here are some of the factors:

Sugar: A little more sugar gives the yeast more food, and more rising power. In this recipe, going from 1 teaspoon to 1 1/2 teaspoons made all the difference between a short loaf and a perfect loaf.

Water temperature: Make sure it is between 100 and 110 degrees F. I use a thermometer to check the temperature. That's the temperature the yeast likes. Use rapid-rise yeast.

Kneading/rising. My bread machine appears to knead the bread twice. For one of the experimental loaves, I tried turning off the machine before the second kneading and baking it later, but I ended up with a short-loaf. There were other factors at play here, however, so it may be worth trying again. I only used 1 teaspoon of sugar in that loaf, and I believe the bread machine keeps the dough slightly warm during the rising cycle, so turning it off may have slowed the rising considerably. Maybe I should have let it sit longer.

I haven't tried the recipe without a bread machine, but I imagine it could be modified to work with traditional baking methods. traditional baking is too much trouble for me however. I like the concept of dumping ingredients in a bread machine and getting hot bread three hours later .

I should have warned everyone that I live in the Mile High city (5280 feet), so altitude is a factor. At sea-level the recipe may need a little tweaking.