Dear Emily; There are a couple of possibilities of what could be happening with your bread dough. One is that you may be working too much flour into your dough. If dough is too stiff, it will not stretch enough. A soft dough will expand easily. Another probable reason could be that you may not have allowed the dough to rise high enough before being shaped. To check the first rise in the bowl, press 2 fingers deep into the dough when it seems to have doubled. It is often hard to decided if the dough is actually double in size. I suggest that you start checking with your fingers about 40 minutes into the rising time. If the holes remain, the dough is ready to punch down and rise, rest or shape according to the recipe. To check if shaped loaves, rolls etc. have risen enough, press with your finger on the side of the dough. If the dough springs back, the loaves must rise a little longer. When the imprint remains, it is time to bake. This could be as early as 30 minutes after shaping. I’m sure if you check yourself in these areas of your baking procedure you’ll be experiencing a beautiful textured bread.