Italian Bread Trouble Shooting

As I mentioned in my post over at the 'Introductions and Ideas' section, I am brand new to bread making. There is no other bread that I can eat like I can eat Italian bread. I can easily eat an entire loaf from Publix in one sitting.

So I looked up on Google a Publix Italian bread copycat recipe. I found a simple recipe which is listed below:

2.25 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 cup warm water (about 110 F)
2.5 cups bread or all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

That is the first recipe that I used, and it resulted in a relatively dense bread, about the same as a regular sandwich bread you would buy from a store. For those of you who are not familiar with the Publix bread, it is a really nice and light. There is a picture of it here: http://www.publix.com/p/RIO-PCI-119004?ch=2.2.1.

On my second round, I made a couple changes after doing some research. Here is the changed recipe:

3.25 teaspoon of active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
10 Ounces warm water (115F)
16.6 Ounces AP flour
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Looking back, I probably made a mistake with not increasing some of the other ingredients, such as the sugar and salt. I had read that an ideal bread recipe should be a 5 to 3 ratio of flour to water. I had also read that increasing the yeast slightly can help to overcome a dough that is not made perfectly, whether it is too wet or dry or not kneaded enough or too much.

The recipe called for the yeast, sugar and water to be bloomed until it was foamy. Very vague, to a beginner like me. How foamy should it be? After that, I just dumped in the other ingredients and mixed it on low until it came together. and then proceeded to knead it.

I used the KitchenAid stand mixer to knead it, which took about 12 minutes. I also made sure to use the window pane method to test to see if the gluten was developed. I have used this method with pizza dough before, so I am familiar with what it should look like. The dough passed that with flying colors.

After the knead, I left in a lightly oiled bowl and covered with a dry towel. I left it for an hour and half and was at least doubled, maybe slightly over. The risen dough was smooth on the top, no visible air bubbles. I punched it down (surprisingly no actual punching was required) and pulled it out onto a sheet of parchment paper and shaped it into a loaf. I had read that it was better to put a cut in the top before the second rise, so I did that too. I let it rise again, covered with a towel, until it had doubled again. I then baked it at 375F for 25 minutes, on the parchment on a sheet pan. When I removed it, the crust looked pretty good, only slightly browned on top. I assume that if I were to use a egg wash, I might have gotten a better crust. The bottom was well browned. I thumped the bottom and it sounded hollow. Then took the temp with a ThermaPen instant read and it was right at 201. I let it cool, covered with the towel again, on a cooling rack for about 3 hours before slicing it open.

The bread was pretty good, slightly bland. If I was not looking for a lighter texture, I would have been pretty happy with it.

So my question: What can I do to get a lighter texture? Is the recipe flawed or does it just need some little tweaks? Does my process need to change? Any general tips?

Thank you in advance! Sorry for the long winded post, I just wanted to make sure to include all the information I could.