Common Complaint: "My whole wheat bread wont rise".
Likely Cause: There are several likely causes for this. 
Firstly, your water may have been too hot (over 135 F, and kills the yeast), or too cool, where it wasn't  warm to the touch, which wont allow the yeast to grow. Try using water warm to the touch, but not hot.
Secondly, you may have placed the dough to rise in a cool place which wont  allow the yeast to grow proplerly. Also, if you put it in a too hot place to rise, the outside crust can become dried out, preventing it from rising further. Try putting it in a warm oven (200F), with the door open, and covered with a damp towel. 
Thirdly, your dough may be too dense, either from using a too course flour, or adding too much flour. Try adding just enough flour to have the dough just barely clean the sides of your mixing bowl, and adding just a little at a time, so you don't end up adding too much. If it is because the flour is too couse, try using a finer flour, and your bread will be lighter/fluffier.
And, the last thing I've noticed is that if your recipe calls for regular yeast, and you use an instant yeast, the instant yeast is only meant to rise once, and will not rise as well after you punch your dough down, and let it rise again. So, make sure that you use instant yeast, for recipes that only let it rise once, and regular yeast for recipes where you punch the dough down, and let it rise again.
Common Complaint: "My crust is too hard".
Likely Cause: The bread can kind of dry out and get hard in the baking process, esspecially with whole wheat. Try rubbing the tops with butter, and placing a damp towel over the top and let it steam for about 10 minutes after baking. This will produce a nice soft crust most of the time.
Common Complaint: "My bread will rise, then sink while baking, or before it is done rising".
Likely Cause: If you put in too little flour, your dough can be too thin, making it rise, and then kind of slop over the edges as it rises, and eventually become to heavy for itself, and sink in. Too much flour, and it wont rise at all. Try to add just enough to where your dough is elastic, and barely cleans the ede of the bowl, no more, no less. Also, if you use wheat without enough gluten content, your dough will not rise correctly, and can colapse before you get a chance to bake it, or during baking.  Make sure for yeast breads to use a hard winter wheat if you are grinding your own flour. Also, make sure if you have little kids that they don't get to roudy, and bump the oven. That will make it colapse for sure.
Common Complaint: "I never know when I've kneaded the dough enough".
Likely Cause: How long you need to knead your dough is largely dependent on what you are using to knead it with. If you are using a Bosch Mixer, Kitchen Aid Mixer, or other mixer, you can need for as little as 4 minutes, and still have your bread turn out fine, while 10 minutes might not be enough if you are needing by hand. For a rule of thumb- knead until when you stretch it, it is elastic. You need to develop the gluten in the flour, which is what makes the bread stay together, and rise well.

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