First French Bread

Yeah, so I baked more. 

Anyhow, this is my attempt at French Bread. I suuuuck at shaping, and my seams popped, but I really liked the crust and it tasted really good!

I made a really wet sponge with a tiny amount of yeast, 1C flour and 1C water, let it sit most of the day, then mixed it with additional flour, water and salt for the dough. Did a lot of kneading, shaped it, and then left it for a long rise. Baked at 500, down to 425 after I got the color I wanted.

I think I should have let the final shapes rise longer, maybe.

Anyhow, pictures!

The loaves

I artistically hide the popped seams!

The crumb. The holes got a bit smaller towards the middle of the loaf. =( But, it wasn't fine-textured all over, so I'm counting it 'good'.

I've got a sourdough starter showing promise, so maybe next time I'll try it with that!

-Brianna