Homemade Bread - Fan or Flop?? Not sure...

So today is the first time I've ever tried to make homemade yeast bread from scratch.  I got out the old Betty Crocker cookbook and invested 3 hours of my time.  The results??  Not too shabby. I am not jumping up and down and dancing the jig over this bread but it rose as it was supposed to, it baked during the timeframe it was supposed to and it's edible.  I am not sure what I expected but wonder if I got the bread the recipe said it would make.  I was expecting something different. Someting lighter andsmoother....softer. This was a course textured but not too dense bread.  Here are the pictures.  I need to try a challa bread next time. I brought home a loaf of it one time from the Great Harvest Bread Company and WOWIE!! It as go-od. Me and the peeps polished off an entire loaf in one meal!

If you make bread and have a good recipe, please share. I think I have this yeast thing figured out!

Doing the melty butter/milk thang....

 Adding wet to flour/yeast mixture thang....

 First rise.  I wish I could credit the blogspot where I discovered this little gem but I cannot.  Turn on the oven light, put bread mixture and set the timer. It doubled in size.....thang.....

 Result of the first rise...thang....

 After the 2nd rise (on countertop covered by a towel)..thang..
I can't seem to stop once I've started.

There was a rise once the loaves were in the pan, for about 10 minutes before turning on the ove to bake, but you may  not want to see a picture of every little step....thang......