Reason(s) for poor bread results This past weekend I was fortunate enough to be gifted a standing mixer.
My first project was James Beard's white bread.  The end characteristics that I wish to improve on were:

When attempting to de-loaf the bread to tap the bottom, the top crust was hermetically sealed onto the loaf pan
It smelled yeasty instead of a nice baked smell.  It didn't necessarily taste as yeasty as it smelled
It was very, very dense

Some thoughts on why it had these issues:

I was advised to mix for 5-10 minutes.  I mixed for a solid 10 minutes
For the 2nd proofing, I was advised to go 40-60 minutes.  I barely went 40
During mixing, toward the start, I didn't feel I had the best we/dry mixture.  I played around a bit with the water and flour.  When I took it out to place it in the bowl for the 1st proofing, the dough was very sticky

Any suggestions to make better bread?
It appears to me that all you need is to give the dough more proofing time. Also, make sure that your pan is generously dusted with flour before placing the dough in and baking.
For the yeasty smell, the fix is quite simple; use less yeast.
This may seem like an ignorant piece of advice, but I'm serious. I used to follow pizza dough recipes that end up smelling way to yeasty. I didn't want to reduce the yeast amount, as I thought &quot;that's what's written in the recipe, any less and the dough won't be as good&quot;, but over time, I've come to realize that a smaller amount of yeast can accomplish the same level of proofing (with more proofing time).