Gretchen said:Whoa. You ARE letting it rise in the baking dish aren't you? You let it double in the pan, put it in the oven and bake it. Oven spring refers to the amount that RISEN dough increases in the oven.
Maybe you just left out the second rise in the above quote. But it certainly would explain it. Tone your oven down. That higher temp is for a different kind of bread--crusty atrisanal loaves often.
Salt in bread is good--better flavor. It may inhibit yeast when just in water but in bread dough, it is a valued ingredient. don't leave it out.
No, I actually do perform the second rise though it tends to take much longer than the recipe specifies. It's probably the yeast.