Mmmmm.....I am keeping a copy of this! Thank you so much for sharing.

Teresa, this bread is so good even after making major screw ups. Decided to try it in the bread machine on dough cycle with baking in the oven. Just as I was preparing to drain the fruit and add it, I found out a person I'd contacted about getting some fertile chicken eggs from to set under my broody hen had six for me. Out of show quality roosters and for free. And he said come and get them now. The bell rang for the addition of the drained fruit and nuts. I knew I hadn't drained the fruit enough, but I was in a hurry. Took off and halfway to my destination realized the dough cycle would be over a good while before I'd get back home. Sorry, but I really wanted those special eggs. The guy showed me all his show birds and got a lot of info from him. By the time I got back home I think the dough cycle had been done for two hours. I had a very wet dough that had risen in the pan then collapsed. Oh well, try to save it. Dumped it out on a liberally floured surface and kneaded in more flour, put it in the pans and let it rise. It did rise a little over the top of the pans.Tried my best and stuck it in the oven. It came out at 25 minutes completely done and beautiful except I didn't get the fruit and nuts distributed well. I've already eaten nearly half a loaf. Love it! Next time I think I'll add more cinnamon, follow the recipe on draining the fruit and not running out in the middle of it to get fertile eggs. Madonna

Guess this was the one day wonder and I missed it the first time around.

Questions: How would you describe your Italian basic? Is there salt in it? Is the crumb spongy? Big holes? Little holes? Even? Does it slice well? Is it crumbly? The cloche may need seasoning with oil to keep it from sticking. If the artisan bread is working for you, that's great! I thought you said the loaves were bad, but maybe you meant the appearance? Any bread that comes out successfully, which is what I assume go-to means, can be the basis for small, well considered tweaks. Exactly what you want to do with the Hodgson rustic bread. You absolutely can do a preferment, just as I described. Take a portion of the flour and water out of the recipe to make your preferment, subtract from the rest of the ingredients, recombine for baking and proceed as directed. Just do it! I couldn't find your recipe on their website. If you need help with the exact proportions, please post it. Re the breakfast bread, keep in mind that gluten is the elastic that expands when bread rises. Anything that isn't gluten, like flax or fruit, is interfering with that. Both the weight and the mere presence of such things are trying to make your bread into a brick. The good news is that the preferment you want to do should increase the strength of the yeast. The bad news is that the bran in whole grains can cut the gluten and rob it of its ability to hold the loft. If your recipe calls for a combination of AP and whole grain flour, make your preferment with the AP and soak the whole grain. Don't overhandle once combined. Give it a nice warm spot to rise and allow it sufficient time. Re sourdough, once you have an established yeast, it can live in your fridge without bothering with for months. You can also keep it dried. Either way, if you don't feed it at least once a week, you'll need to spend a few days feeding it up before baking. You can get Carl's Oregon Trail sourdough starter for a dollar donation plus an SASE. Just google it. But keeping sourdough does require a little attention now and then, and it might not be for you. Modern yeast granules are very reliable and strong. The best of them are Active Dry Yeast (not instant, which work fast and die fast), and the best brands I'm aware of are Fleischmann's, KAF (King Arthur Flour) and Red Star.