Having actually read the thread since posting the GH oatmeal recipe, some more comments... I do buy s/m bread (only at reduced price!). The UK s/ms do make some nice 'artisan' breads i.e. flavoured ones. And whilst sliced bread is all pretty much cardboard, it also goes in the freezer & is convenient for when you... just... can't... be bothered! ;-)

Otherwise, as far as bread goes (& flapjacks too; thread hijack! ;-) ), you can pretty do any damn thing you like. If you find you don't like, try something else next time. Otherwise, why make a bare, boring flour + yeast + water loaf? You can BUY those! ;-)

Most important ingredient - flour. Pretty much every damn recipe will tell you to use "strong bread flour". There's no reason to. SBF has more gluten which aids the rise. You can use plain white (or whatever) flour. The loaf is no less tasty; it just doesn't rise as much. You get a denser, chewier loaf. Misunderstanding what bannocks were, I made barley bannocks once. Unleavened. No yeast. Very dense, very chewy. Rather a sod to get the bread knife through, as I recall... :o But still delicious. Use whatever flour you like. It'll make a tasty loaf. If you choose not to use SBF, you'll get less rise, that's all. And fluid, be it water, milk, is always somewhat guess work. All flours have different absorbency. Even if it's SBF, it might not be SBF from the same region or miller, etc...

Yeast - I've only ever used the dried stuff. I cannot comment on whether fresh makes a better loaf. Dried makes a perfectly good loaf. I don't get through bread quickly enough (there's only me) to make fresh yeast a viable option.

Bread-makers - never used one. If, like Raggy, kneading causes pain, use one. Aside from that, I'd only say that kneading takes a few minutes, but is in no way "hard work", nor "skilled" (I can do it! ;-) ). Have a little pile of flour to the side to dust the surface / your hands with. Kneading is as much leaning on the dough as it is physical effort with the arms. Press with the heels of hands, spread the dough out a bit, turn it 90 degrees, roll it up, dust flour underneath if it's threatening to stick, dust your hands... Your dough should be slightly sticky to start but becomes less so as you knead & it proves; the flour helps you not to stick & ends up in the dough too... It's only 5+ mins for the first knead. Many recipes will tell you 10, but it's more a question of "does it feel right?", which only experience can teach you. "Knocking back" i.e. 2nd knead is 2-3 mins. And the dough is pretty unsticky by then. Never seen the point of a bread-maker. But kneading doesn't create pain for me! I'm NOT being judgemental.

Sugar. There are two different reasons why you might sweeten the dough. One is rubbish, the other isn't. If you want to make a sweet, cake-style loaf, with dried fruit perhaps, that's a fair reason to add sugar , honey, some sort of syrup, or whatever sweetener you like best. If you're following a recipe that says a tsp or tbsp of... Don't bother. The thinking there is the brewer's "starter" - give the yeast a quick start. It isn't really necessary, but makes some sort of sense if you're going to add the yeast to 1 / 3 / 5 / however many gallons of must, especially if you 'start' the yeast before you start sorting out the must. For a loaf of bread, if the recipe is saying tsp / tbsp, waste of time. The yeast will get going anyway, the extra sugars, in whatever form, make no difference to them or to the resulting loaf.

Not A Basic Loaf - Here there are two things to consider. The first I've already touched on, sort of. I might say of bread makers, "Why bother, you might just as buy a loaf". But the point of making your own bread is that you CAN make a plain white (or whatever) loaf, but you don't HAVE to. It's your loaf. Mess around. Make what you want. If you think avocado & taramasalata would make for a great loaf then never mind anyone else going "Eeeew!", try it. If it don't work, you won't repeat it; does it matter?

Which leads to the second thing. Remember what a loaf (mostly) is and what the balanced diet mostly consists of. I am NOT a believer in the balanced diet (that's a whole *other* topic!), but it's the Western standard; 40% carb, or thereabouts. That 40% consists largely of some / any / all of potato, rice, flour (including pasta, bread, etc). They're all pretty bland compared with the rest of it. We like spices & herbs because they liven up flavours! So, if you're going to take the trouble to make a loaf yourself, whether by hand or by bread-maker, why just use flour + water + yeast? You might just as well experiment... ;-)

I hope this various drivel is of interest / use to someone... ;-)