Cloud Swift - I think your bread looks great! It may be what you are using to score the tops (or how deep), but there looks to be really excellent ovenspring as well. Scoring is another huge debate item. Angeled (30°) cut, use a lame or a blade, using scissors or a knife - the experts spend a lot of time on the subject... I also think the "poke test" for dough should go the way of wearing hats and gloves in church! I might also add thumping the bread to test it for doneness should also get a second look. I prefer to actually KNOW if it's done by using an instant read thermometer. Some breads really need that extra 5-10°F to BE done, and a "thump" doesn't give that information. It's brown, doesn't cut it either. I use agave nectar, and honey gives the same false "brown enough to be done" look. Both contribute to early browning - much sooner than the loaf is actually done. A dough rising bucket will help new/infrequent/hesitant bread bakers make better bread because they can actually tell when the dough has doubled - NO GUESSING. An important part of successful breadmaking. I also set a timer to check the dough in the dough rising bucket. When I bake I WEAR a Polder Timer around my neck (I've been known to wander outside and get distracted while waiting for dough to rise...;-) These may seem like piddly details for the experienced bread bakers, but there are more questions about "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BREAD - AND HOW CAN I FIX IT" than details about successes on this site. If an inexpensive plastic tub with a lid can make a failed breadmaker a successful breadmaker, WOOO HOOO! As far as the final proofing goes (panned or free-formed) - it takes all five senses to make good bread and our eyes have to be our guide at this point. Over- or Under-Proofing Panned Breads: 1. An incorrect amount of dough placed in the pan to begin with is a prime suspect for over- or under-proofing panned breads. It's the fear-of-the-scale problem. A standard loaf pan (1-1.5# dough) and a 9x5-inch loaf pan (designed for quick breads) are not the same volume. If you put 1-1.5 pounds in a 9x5-inch loaf pan (which can accomodate 2#+), you may allow it to rise way OVER double to fill the space. If you put 2# of dough in a standard size bread pan it will be easy to under-proof it, or you can end with a mushroom and a lot of shredding on the sides. If I place more than 1# of dough in my Pullman pan, as soon as the dough hits the oven and I get a good amount of ovenspring, the additional dough will quickly seep out any crack in the Pullman pan lid. This is a "MUST SCALE THE DOUGH" loaf. I also scale dough amounts so that I have equal amounts in each pan that bake in approximately the same amount of time to nearly the same size. I scale the dough for hot dog buns, hamburger buns, dinner rolls, etc. The scale is my friend! 2. The next mistake comes when people think they need to allow the dough to rise to the size of the finished loaf - this is over-proofing. The little rule-of-thumb: The dough log is approx. 1/3 the size of the finished loaf. You allow that amount of dough to rise until it's approximately "double" the dough log size - which accounts for 2/3 the size of the finished loaf. The ovenspring (the amount the dough continues to rise after it's in the oven) accounts for the last 1/3 of the size of the finished loaf. After you are familiar with a certain recipe, you'll know when the dome of the rising dough is about 1-inch over the edge of the pan, it's doubled. You'll use little signs like that to guide you, but that doesn't work all the time on all recipes.... With formed loaves it's a little trickier - hydration and human error play into this, as well as the type of bread. Many aren't supposed to "double". -Grainlady

Thanks Teresa, Grainlady and Annie for your help. Mad about Mickey, what a coincidence. The first one was certainly not my best either. Teresa- You answered one of the questions I didn't ask... I wondered if I was supposed to use the paddle then switch to the hook. Do you switch after all ingredients are in I'm guessing? I use my mixer a lot, but for the same few things... cookies, an occasional cake, whipped cream and dog treats. I should probably read the instructions again. Grainlady - here is the recipe... 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast, or 1 packet active dry yeast dissolved in 2 tablespoons water 1 1/3 cups (10 1/2 ounces) water 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) vegetable oil 1/4 cup (3 ounces) honey, molasses, or maple syrup 3 1/2 cups (14 ounces) King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour 1/4 cup (1 ounce) nonfat dried milk 1 1/4 teaspoons salt Mixing: In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple. (You may also knead this dough in an electric mixer or food processor, or in a bread machine programmed for "dough" or "manual.") Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 60 minutes, depending on the warmth of your kitchen. Shaping: Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and shape it into an 8-inch log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the bread to rise for about 1 hour, or until it's crowned about 1 inch above the edge of the pan. A finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that rebounds slowly. Baking: Bake the bread in a preheated 350F oven for about 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil after 20 minutes. Test it for doneness by removing it from the pan and thumping it on the bottom (it should sound hollow), or measuring its interior temperature with an instant-read thermometer (it should register 190°F at the center of the loaf). Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a wire rack before slicing. Store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature. Yield: 1 loaf, 16 slices. I think when I made it by hand, I basically did what you were saying. When I tried to strictly follow directions, the dough was too sticky to work with, so I added the flour until I could work with it. I finished kneading with the oil. I didn't punch the dough, but I don't think that hurt much of anything, I only have one spot with a bigger air bubble, so I must have smushed it enough when I shaped it. I have never tried the sponge, in fact, I had never heard of it before last year when I was thinking about learning to make some different types of bread. I will try that sometime. I was taught how to bake bread by my great aunt when I was in elementary school (early 80's??) I make some here and there, but years go by without making any, so I have to regain the "feel" of it. That's why I posted, I the dough didn't feel right when I followed the directions, and I was second guessing myself. I have also discovered you can learn A LOT from these forums, so I thought it might be educational to ask! I think I need to re-acquaint myself with bread baking the way I was taught, and then I should try out some other methods. There seems to be a ton of variety out there, and I should learn some of it. Thank you, and BTW, this loaf did turn out much better than the first one.

Did this oven come with a new house? Was it a gift? I'm asking because it seems like the kind of thing serious bakers buy after they've already done a lot of work with bread rather than those wanting to avoid working with dough. Maybe it was bought for some other reason? Regardless, don't be afraid of dough. People have been baking bread and adapting it to the tools and conditions at hand for centuries. You take some flour and water, add a little salt and maybe introduce some leavening or not, and you can make a seemingly endless variety of things all called bread. If the pioneers made bread, you can make bread. If my 19 yr old video binging, game playing college student is learning to make bread, you can do it. Now, that said, it can be confusing. There are different schools -- traditional techniques that are still needed to make sandwich loaves and enriched breads (brioche, challah and such). That's where folks like me learned to make bread, and I think those skills and the comfort level with working with dough still serve you well when working with other types of dough. But there are a lot of people who have been introduced to making bread through no-knead breaed techniques -- and boy, , are there a host of books to consult on that. Artisan Bread in 5 Minues a Day is possibly the most approachable to the average person. I made some good bread with their basic recipe -- my son loved the ciabbatta. But there are literally dozens more. A lot of the recipes use Dutch Ovens, Lodge multi cookers or some other covered method (I've seen folks use a clay pot or metal bowl upside down on a baking stone to capture steam from the bread and get much of the result your CSO will give -- often without buying anything new. The only store bought dough I've ever seen is frozen white bread (Rhodes?) or Sister somebody's dinner rolls. I know some pizza places will sell you the pizza dough, and some bakers have had success buying some starter from a bakery, but that's all I've ehard of. That frozen bread dough is the opposite of anything that you would want to take advantage of your CSO. It is soft white dough designed to be baked in a loaf pan or possibly divided into soft rolls. It will never be a crusty artisan loaf -- and it sound like that is what you want from the CSO. I have a Wolf convection oven without the steam. I would trust their recommendations (maybe they have a basic recipe?) as a starting point. I'd never used a convection roast cycle before -- had always preheated to a high heat to sear and then reduced the heat when we put in the meat. The convection roast preset is a lower temp, but a bit higher than we'd used. Since this was different, we tried the preset. Roasts a whole chicken in an hour or a little more, crispy skin and juicy inside with no fuss. Our turkeys have been so easy and so good -- I digress, but hope you get the point. Explore the options. You should be very happy. You might find Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day at your library (and it's on Amazon, including Kindle if not). I would suggest cecking that out and trying to work with what you already have before buying equipment (make half their recipe and you shoulf have something that will hold it without buying large bins or clearing a fridge to hold a 5 gallon drum). After trying it, you can see if you need to buy anything new. Very litle expense -- very little effort really, and you might decide you like woring with dough enough to try the old school stuff too. I like both.

Report card on last night's pizza experiment... I adopted and adapted much of the excellent advice from the generous people here, and to my taste, achieved a 90% result! First, turned on the oven to full bore before making the dough. Added around an extra cup of flour to my usual mix. (Who measures?) I think this made a big difference, as the finished pizza had a thicker base with some "chew", not crunch. Just threw the granular yeast into the flour, without proving it first. No oil. Added more water than I normally would. Got it to a consistency where it was sticky, without quite sticking to my fingers. Into a covered bowl. By now, the house was so hot that I went out and sat on the verandah, talking to the kangaroos while the dough was rising. An hour later, I just threw the beautifully risen dough onto the pan without a punch and 2nd kneading. No oil on pan. Spread onto the pan and added toppings. I only added minimal toppings, as in the past I've been guilty of overloading it, requiring longer cooking time. Grated the cheese on the fine side, rather than coarsely. Again, less time to cook. Still using top shelf of oven, put in empty 10" pan first, with 12" pizza directly on top of it. It's some insulation, no? Just 10 minutes later, time to eat, and it was wonderful! Bottom only slightly crisp, but properly cooked. Dough chewy but cooked through. I ate the entire thing in 10 minutes with a glass of nice shiraz, and toasted you all! (Paying for it today, though, as I think the 12 chillies were overkill.) So a big thank you from me to you!