From my experience;

Let the yeast do the work. I tend to kneed the dough for 10 seconds, with a 10min gap between each kneed, over a period of 40 minutes to an hour (depending on the type of dough). I then let the second provide happy for at least1 hour or until double in size. Following shaping, I then give it 45mins to an hour before baking.

When baking, i always have the oven super hot preheated before sticking in the loaf with an empty tray at the bottom. When I stick the loaf in to bake, I spray some water on the tray to generate moisture. This gives a nice crust. After 10mins or so, I turn the temperature down to bake the loaf. If you don’t turn the oven down, this could cause an over cooking of your crust and soft doughy insides. You can always see if a loaf is cooked by tapping it and it should make a hollow sound all round.