It never made sense to me to go to the trouble of getting liquid to a suitable temp to dump it into a cold bread pan, so my first step is to remove pan from machine, put in some HOT tap water and let it warm the pan while I gather ingredients. Maybe just my imagination, but it seems to help with better first rise.
I recently noticed newer machines seem to have a “pre-heat” function, so maybe I was not all that far off before. (edited to add Dec 2023 – My KBS Model MBF-041 does have preheat)
Does your machine pre-heat?