Why is my bread so dense and moist? I have been trying to make bread using a bread mix and my mixer.  I read that the amount of water you should add can vary on the humidity at the time.  The mix instructions say that I should add 300ml of water to the mix but I find that by the time I have added 250ml it is already quite wet, so I never add the full 300ml.  There are no instructions on how long to knead the bread if using a mixer but a recipe for bread in my mixer book suggests around 5 minutes.  I have done this but I think that maybe it needs longer.

My question is:  Could my bread be too dense and moist due to:

Too much water?
Not enough kneading?
Not leaving it to prove for long enough?

What is a "warm place"?  How warm is warm, without killing off the yeast?  As you can see, I'm quite a beginner with baking!
I was watching a Lorraine Pascale (British baker / chef) episode on TV before. She had a saying which was "when it comes to dough, the wetter the better". Don't get tempted to add more flour if your dough feels wet. She also used a mixer with a dough hook AND allowed the machine to knead it for 5 minutes.

After kneading, gently shape the dough into a rough ball shape and with a floured finger press into the dough. If it's ready, the depression in the dough should spring back so you can't see where you pressed in.