Good boule

Well, I think I am beginning to get the hang of the basic recipe from the 'Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day' book thing. The book finally arrived and I was able to study it more closely. Plus, I picked up some helpful much needed tools at the big kitchen shop that would make my baking procedure a bit smoother- things like parchment paper, a new sharp bread knife, a cooling rack, dough cutter, a large wooden peel, and also I'm ordering a better oven stone to bake the bread on. Good tools do making cooking more of a pleasure.

My third batch of dough seemed to come out nicer than the first two tries- more elastic and rising better. I read about how to properly 'cloak' the loaf before baking it- I think this made a big difference. I also used a steaming pan in the lower rack of the oven to help get a good crust, and I used my new parchment paper to move the loaf smoothly from the peel onto the baking stone with minimal jarring. I am pleased with the results this time:
The little boule was lovely, had a crisp crust, and was good and moist and chewy.
B. said he just loved it with our chicken soup this evening. It'll be gone by tomorrow morning.