I've had a bread machine since 1999 and have only made bread, the machine "way," twice. There are several factors at work.
One, I really didn't care for the "bellybutton" the mixing paddle created in the finished product.
Secondly, the bread itself just wasn't that good. I used the recipe in the book that came with the machine.
Lastly, it only made one loaf which, for us, wasn't very acceptable. We LIKE our fresh homemade bread and go through a lot. Not to mention that I haven't bought commercially-made bread products (yes products, plural) for about 30 years. I make ALL our bread.
Here's how I handled all the above challenges.
First, the indentation in the finished loaf became a non-problem because instead of using the machine to do its thing, I only use it for the kneading and first rise...using my own bread recipe. No bread gets baked in the appliance, so no paddle stays in the dough or makes a cavern in the baked loaf.
Second issue. Solved by using my own recipe.
Last problem...by using my own recipe and utilizing the machine for only the kneading and first rise, the end result is two normally-shaped loaves of bread.
In short, I fill the mixing container with the ingredients for my selected recipe then turn the machine to the DOUGH cycle and let it do its thing.
Once the dough cycle is finished, I turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface, shape the dough into two equal and even loaves, place the dough into greased bread pans, let rise for the second/last rise. After they've completed the last rise, into the oven they go.
The time for the machine to do its job is 90 minutes. It only takes me a few minutes to shape the loaves and put them in the pans. The last rise is about 1 hour.
For the last rise, I put a cereal bowl filled with water in the microwave and heat on HIGH for 4 minutes while I shape the loaves. Leave the bowl in the oven to create a warm, moist environment for the loaves to "enjoy" as the finish their last rise.
In essence, I use the microwave as a proofing box. I put the loaves into the microwave for the hour's rise. Again, don't remove the bowl of water.
At the 30-minute point, I preheat my oven and by the end of the hour's time, the oven is perfect and the bread is, too.
My standard loaf recipe bakes at 400F for 20 to 25 minutes, using glass pans. I prefer glass over metal, but that's me. You might choose something else.
Even though the resulting bread is made using the combination machine and hand processes, very little hands-on time is required. This allows for time to do other tasks.
I now HAVE to make my breads this way because arthritis has settled so significantly in my hands that I simply cannot knead any more.
The bonus to doing what I do is that the microwave gets a nice steam clean.
