Ah-hah! Im glad I measured the yeast now. I thought maybe there was a difference in brands, but if mfrs did that, it would mess up so many recipes that call for 1 packet. I waited 2 hours last night (yawn) before putting the bowl in the refrigerator but I didnt see much rising then. I used warm water and covered the bowl all around with some towels to keep it warmer. I would have left it out but I could not stay awake any longer. Since I have the baking stone I was not going to use parchment, thinking parchment might affect the crisp crust the porous baking stone is supposed to be good for. I have corn meal around (somewhere). But if parchment makes no difference to that tell me. I dont think I have an instant read thermometer but have the kind with a spike that you stick into meat, and my husband has this fancy gadget with a beam he got as a prize at work: you aim it at a surface (like the grill) and it tells you the temperature. But room temperature is easy enough to tell. Though it wont be warmer than 65 F in this house. Front of the stove is a smart idea. terrapots, I will think of your "Shadow" while mine sits next to me. Her blanket is a foot to the right of the keyboard but if she feels neglected she starts encroaching on the mouse. If I still dont give her enough attention she will stand between the keyboard and the monitor or walk on the keyboard. Thanks for the tips!

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

Maryanne, don't worry, just go for it :) I baked up a small round loaf last night. I made the dough on Thursday and it rose way up in me container...sat on the counter for over 2 hours, but under 3. I just stuck it in the fridge. Last night, I tossed some flour on top of the dough in the container, to make it easier to grab a clump without sticking to my hand too much. Grabbed a knife and cut off a chunk. I never set the dough down, just worked it into a ball by pushing the sides underneath to make a ball. Kept doing that a few times, didn't need any more flour or anything. I set the ball on a piece of parchment that I had already laid on my peel. I let it rise for about an hour. I turned the oven on about 20 minutes before I wanted to put the bread in the oven. I put an 9" sq pan on the bottom shelf and the baking stone above. Set oven at 450. When I put the bread in to bake I put the 1C of hot water in the pan. I had second thoughts on how fast I did that ans was afraid that I wasn't going to have enough steam.....so I grabbed a handful of ice cubes out of the freezer and threw them in the bottom of the oven also. The oven spring was wonderful. Here's my bread... When I took the bread out of the oven (I used a digital thermometer to test for 200 degrees in the middle of the loaf) the bread really did talk to me. Made all these crackeling noises... knew then it would be good. It was! I used to love some hard rolls that a certain restaurant made that had a thin crispy crust and a nice moist interior, this bread comes as close to those wonderful rolls as any I've ever made. I'll make some dinner rolls with it soon. And talk about easy....................... duh! I think someone already posted the challah recipe. It's a richer dough to begin with and because of the eggs in it, you need to use it up in 3-4 days. Nancy

Thanks, coconut. That helped me some. I used my cheapy mixer and finished with my hands. It was a very sticky dough. I chose to make the European Peasant Bread for the first try. Then I refrigerated it, covered in saran wrap with gaps on the side (they say don't make it air tight). I did this on Sunday and made my first loaf last night. But, the dough (in the container) had dry tough spots around the edges that I had to remove and throw out. I've since made it air tight. When I formed the loaf it had the texture of a down pillow and was not sticky at all. And I used lots of flour when cloaking. The loaf came out great. After cloaking, it spread sideways a little at first and then rose a little in the middle. Not much though, it was no where near double. This took 4 1/2 hours. I waited until it was just a little bit cool to the touch before scoring and baking. At first it was very cold to the touch. My kitchen and home was at 70 degrees all day. I think I should have waited a little longer but it was getting late. The loaf had just a hint of gummy texture in the very center, but not enough really worry about. It had not risen much when I put it in the oven but it rose a lot once it was in. Doubled in height. You could literally look away from the bread for 30 seconds -look back- and see the difference. It "sprang" that fast. I'm guessing that letting it warm up for so long helped. That, or the fact that it dried out some due to the gaps in the saran wrap. Also it had a mix of white, rye and wheat. So... ??? Do you all have little rising and lots of oven spring? And do you put your bread in the oven when it is still really cold? We liked it. The flavor was really good. I wouldn't call this 'easy' compared to regular bread baking - just because it's a different method and I worried over it a bit, lol. BUT it's way easier than making a starter, feeding the starter, etc. And faster too - with a similar flavor. At this point I think I'll keep doing it for a while. Unless it starts to drive me crazy with problems. linnea, the book says to work in more flour if it's too wet, so have you tried that yet? I guess they mean work it into the whole batch. Not each individual loaf...