You can try adding vital wheat gluten too when working with heavier flours like WW. I've been making a lot of break using No Knead recipes, and it definetely helps. Its also important to make sure your bread has rested and risen long enough. My house must be cooler than most, as I've had to let my bread do do its thing for 3 hours when a recipe only called for 2 hours.

I used to have this problem and it turned out that my water (I was using tap water) was too chlorinated and inhibiting my yeast growth. So if you are using tap water you may try using bottled water or letting you tap water sit out for a day or two before using it to bake.

Thank you for your suggestions! All my ingredients are fresh, including the yeast. The dough is also a very sticky, runny dough so kneading isn't really an option. The only other thing I was thinking is maybe a longer rise (right now it rests for half an hour)? Vital wheat gluten might be a good thing to experiment with though!

This kind of dough will be dense--you can see that even in the photo from the site. In addition to vital wheat gluten, you can also try the whole grain bread improver from King Arthur, but given the make up of flours here, this will be a dense bread and you may want to look for breads with less oats and whole wheat if you want something lighter.

I've also had success adding wheat gluten: gluten is what makes the "net" in dough that catches the gas the yeast releases, and is often added to rustic breads. Are you currently able to pull a "windowpane" with your dough? http://www.thekitchn.com/bakers-techniques-how-to-do-th-70784

That would indicate a problem gluten could help (kneading more is a way to help develop existing gluten.)

I get better fluffiness when I control the temperature of the water. I also let the dough rise in a hot box.
-I heat up my mixing bowl with hot water before the mixin'
-I preheat the oven to 110-115F and let the dough rise (both times) in the oven.

I find that the granite countertops suck a lot of heat out of the dough and don't let the yeast burp up my loaves as much as I like it.

Two things I would look into....

1. The density of the flour. - Whole wheat flour will pick up significantly less water than white flour, theis is especially important in no-knead recipes as they are very dependent on water to flour ratio. I used to use a whole wheat flour off the shelf and I've switched to locally milled whole wheat flour which is derived from red-fife wheat (it is much lighter and works with no-knead recipes much better). You can try backing off on the water especially if the dough is really wet. I follow a no-knead recipe from Michael Smith which works well every time. http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/recipe.html?dishid=9530

2. The temperature of the surrounding environment. The mixture needs to be at a constant "warm" temperature for the entire rising process. If you turn down the heat at night when you go to bed this can cause the yeast to be less efective. I'm looking at buying one of these portable proofers so I can go back to making no knead in the winter. http://brodandtaylor.com/

Good Luck!

Vitamin C helps if you just use wholemeal flour.

Strange ... I've made that recipe from 101 cookbooks several times, and it's never come out super dense. But keep in mind it's not going to be as light as store-bought breads since it has oats and wheat flour. Also, I always let my bread rise in a warm spot. Have you tried kneading your bread less? Sometimes, the more you knead, the more dense it becomes.

I think you need a longer rise (depending on how warm/cool your place is). I make a bread that's half bread flour and spelt flour. My first rise is always about an hour.

...Re-read the 101 cookbooks recipe. I would suggest letting the bread rise in the loaf pan until it gets to about pan height. Then bake it.

It looks like this recipe is very wet and rushed, and the pictures look like its severely underkneaded. I would add enough extra flour so that the dough can just be stirred together with a spoon, which will give a consistency that is manageable to "knead" using the stretch and fold method (in short, put some oil or water on your hands to minimize stickage, stretch the dough into a rectangle, and fold it into thirds like a letter, turn 90 degrees, and repeat, then turn again - after a few rounds, it will resist being folded, let it rest 20 minutes, and give it another round), and reduce the yeast by 1/2 (or double the recipe), so that the first rise took at least 2 hours to double in size. Also, whole wheat flour doesn't absorb water as quickly as all purpose. Try stirring the flour and water together, covering, and leaving on the counter in a cool kitchen or in the refrigerator overnight, then adding the yeast and salt and continuing. (If you can stir the flour and water together with a spoon, the yeast shouldn't need to be pre-dissolved.)

Another vote for vital wheat gluten, and making sure it passes windowpane, even if it means a lot of kneading.

I agree with Kariwk, the final product from the site looks dense, so it could just be the recipe. I would also highly suggest using bread flour not AP. I know there is a little bit of a conversion when switching it in a recipe, but I found a huge difference when using bread flour versus AP. Good luck!

I've also had better results using vital wheat gluten. Also, I don't know why but, for me Saf Instant yeast seems to work much better.........

The recipe as written is designed to make a very dense bread. You've got more whole wheat flour than white flour (based on weight) plus there's a cup of rolled oats. For a 'fluffier' bread, the amount of whole wheat flour (or any non-white wheat flour) should not exceed more than 50% of the flour mixture. The vital wheat gluten is not a bad idea for this recipe.

The rising time is also very short, 30 minutes. Most bread recipes usually list at least an hour or until the dough is double in volume. And it's a good idea to let the dough proof after shaping or putting into the baking pan. About 45-60 minutes or until it rises some more.

And the temperature seems a bit too low.

I would mix up the recipe except using 1 tsp yeast and let it rise overnight in the fridge. Somewhere in the overnight rise, give the dough a good few stirs with a wooden spoon since it's so wet. This is just another form of kneading. In the morning or later the next day, take the dough out of the fridge, give it a couple of good stirs. Transfer to your baking pan and let it proof until it reaches a higher level in the pan, at least an hour. Then bake in a preheated 450F oven for 15 minutes, then lower to 350F for the remainder of the time. Tent the top with foil if it's browning too fast. Cook until the internal temperature of the bread is ~200-210F.

If this doesn't work, it's the recipe and maybe it was designed to be more of a 'quick' bread.

I am a novice when it comes to making bread, and my only experience so far is based on no-knead methods, mainly Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (a book worth checking out!). I've noticed that kneading it less has created a better crumb interior for my loaves. And the second thing which is really weird, but has created the absolute best loaves yet, is to form your loaf, stick it in the fridge on parchment paper and loosely covered, and letting it rise in the fridge for 7-12 hours. Then bake like normal. I have achieved beautiful crumb interior this way- a lot of airy holes with a delicious crust. I've posted on my learning process on my blog here:
http://billyrachel.blogspot.com/2011/04/simple-yet-versatile-boule.html
I always use Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day website when I have questions- their suggestions are very helpful and they answer quickly. Happy bread making!

This is more or less a batter bread. It's going to be dense. Kneaded, longer-rise doughs will be more airy by nature. They're just two different creatures... I happen to enjoy both.

I haven't made the specific recipe you've used, but I solved my similar problem with the "stretch and fold" technique. Here's Peter Reinhardt doing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1timJlCT3PM
It's amazing, even the runniest bread dough builds gluten this way. Hope it helps you!

Add the flower slowly and mix kinda vigorously to keep the dough aerated. The dough usually rises a lot fluffier that way for me. Also the right water temps with the yeast like the last person said should help too. Good luck.

Damn! I meant flour!!