Bread: Back To The Basics

The breads I have been making recently haven't been rising very well. They taste fine, their texture is good, but they are rather flat. Usually the yeast bubbles and activates, they rise pretty well in the first rise, they even rise in the second rise. But when they bake, they do not rise. This has become a bit frustrating and disappointing. I have been trying different things, but they still were not rising well. I can partly blame the weather, as I tend to end up with humid or rainy bread-making days, but obviously there is more to it than this. Bread can still be successfully made on poor weather days. This time, I decided to go back to the basics of bread making.
I chose a basic, easy, whole wheat bread recipe. I decided even though I usually change up bread recipes and add some more grains such as flax seed and bran, I did not want to change this recipe around too much. So I simply replaced half a cup of the flour with a quarter cup each of natural wheat bran and ground flax seed. Other than that I stuck to the recipe. To ensure I had the best rise, I made sure all of the ingredients were at room temperature, except for the liquid. I used an instant-read thermometer to ensure it was not too hot as to kill the yeast, but not to cold as to not activate the yeast. I gently heated the oven to make it warm for proofing. And I made sure I kneaded the dough enough, but didn't add too much extra flour to the bread. Hopefully all of this extra time and care will pay off. I will let you know tomorrow how my bread turns out!