The important thing as the manual keeps stressing again and again is to use exact quantities of the ingredients specified in the recipe and to put them in the right order. To help with the quantities, my parents also brought home a set of measures that helps me measure out exact quantities - 1 and 3/4 cup, 1 and 1/8 cup for example - all such measures can be done exactly!
There is one problem with the bread maker however. There is a small mixer that is to be fixed at the base. This causes an uneven hole to form at the bottom of the bread. I can live with that however. I guess they cannot avoid that!
I have tried different types of bread - regular white, whole wheat, cinnamon and raisin, honey grain, Italian Herb etc.. Most of them turned out very well. The 100% whole wheat was an exception. It wouldn't rise well enough and wouldn't be fluffy. I tried many changes to the recipe. More water, more yeast, a touch of oil. Though most variations were better than the original recipe, none was frankly, good enough. When I look at the whole wheat breads available in the market and take a closer look at the ingredients, I find that most of them are not 100% whole wheat! They all list wheat flour (maida) as one of the ingredients. Now I know why!
Here are some pictures of the bread that I have made:
... http://www.kamaldshah.com/2012/05/my-experiments-with-bread.html