Carol, My apologies for not getting back to you as promised but it looks like you were in real bakers' hands! I have been busy making a float for the Garparilla Parade today. It paid off because my grandbabies won "Best of the Wagon" entries. Anyway, I made my dough yesterday and my first loaf from the Master Recipe today. It was perfect! To your original question, as our baker friend above said AND page 21 of the book says: Loaf has a soggy or gummy crumb (interior): Check your oven temperature with a thermometer. Make sure you are allowing the dough to rest for the full time period we've recommended. Your dough may benefit from being a litter drier. For the next batch, increase the flour by a quarter cup or decrease the liquids a little and check the results. If you're baking a large loaf (more than 1 pound), let it rest longer, and let it bake longer by 10 to 15 minutes. One final word of advice: if you're finding the breads just a little gummy, don't slice or eat your loaves when they're still warm. We know, hot bread has a certain romance, so it's hard to wait for it to cool. But waiting will improve the texture and when cool, the loaves don't compress so easily when cut. A sharp brad knife will go right through cooked crust and crumb with minimal compression. Again, I know the experts here have given you excellent guidance. Cathy

bbstx- Great information has already been shared, but I'll steer you in a little different direction for low-sodium bread recipes. I recently added the cookbook, "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., & Joe Francois (also authors of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day"), to my collection. In traditional bread recipes salt controls the yeast action, and when you decrease the salt in a standard recipe you need to also lower the amount of yeast used. As a general rule-of-thumb if you reduce the salt by 50%, then you also need to reduce the yeast by 50%. But just as these "Artisan Bread in 5-Minutes" recipes defy bread-making "norms", they give this information about adding salt to their recipes: "Because our dough is slack in the first place, and is stored for so long, we don't detect differences in dough strength between high- and low-salt versions of our breads. In our recipes, salt makes its appearance mostly for flavor, so adjust it to suit your palate." Therefore, I'd suggest checking out a copy of these books from the library, or check their web site (lots of information there - see link below), and this would give you some really great, easy-to-make, recipes you could adapt to low-sodium choices. Great for beginner, or busy, bread bakers. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

I follow Sooner's and others' suggestion about the parchment paper. I place the shaped bread on a paper covered peel and trim away all but an inch or two. The bread & paper slide easily onto a preheated stone. About 2/3 through the baking time, I quickly open the oven door & yank out the paper so the bread bottom crust finishes baking directly on the stone. It's so much easier than worrying about corn meal. I'm glad to see this topic surface again. I was toying with the idea of re-trying this recipe. The bread rose fine for me, and my husband liked it. But I thought the taste was pretty blah, less tasty than other breads I'd made with a pre-ferment. Even after letting the dough "age" in the fridge for several days, I couldn't taste any improvement in flavor. But the convenience can't be beat. That's why I was thinking of giving it one more try.

I followed the link teresa posted & mixed up a batch of master recipe on Wednesday evening. I baked my first loaf of artisan bread tonight. After if came out of the oven I almost broke my arm patting myself on the back. Never ever would I have thought it would turn out so good. I preheated my oven to 500. Once it reached 500 I then turned it back to 450. I have an old oval shaped clay baker (it has seldom been used) that I put in my oven along with the lid. Set my timer for 45 minutes then proceded to prep the dough. There was no work to it at all. Just like the video I was able to cut a chunk off and shape it with a little more flour in less than a minute. I threw it on a silpat sheet sprinkled with cornmeal to rise. 45 minutes later I put a couple of slits in it then into my baker it went. I added the lid and set my timer for another 30 minutes. I didn't know if I should remove the lid half way thru or not. As a matter of fact I didn't even think about removing the lid till about 5 minutes befor the timer was to go off. I did remove it at that time and was amazed at how great the bread looked. Five minutes later I pulled it from the oven. I was telling myself to let it cool down befor I cut into it. Bread should not be cut while its hot. Right? Heck I don't know. I have no willpower!! Oh my I was in shock. I still can't believe I produced such a beautiful tasty loaf of artsian bread. Thank you teresa for the link to the recipe. Now that I have tried it and it worked I will buy the book ASAP. I can not wait to try some of the other recipes. The pecan rolls are calling my name, my very own home made english muffins and pitas! I want to make a marble rye worthy of Jerry Seinfield! I have plans to go to the Amish store for several different flours and spices. I am gonna weigh a ton! Dawn