Thank you JoeVa

Syd, thanks for your kind words.  JoeVa has a winner with this formula.  In the past I have made dough batches using semolina, but not durum flour.  Coincidentially, a few weeks ago I ordered three bags of durum flour from K.A., along with some other items, then a few days later I luckily found  Joe's post on TFL.  He wasn't specific about mixing, so I mixed the dough in a single batch, placed it in a lightly oiled large plastic covered bin, then gave it three stretch and folds at 20 minute intervals, then divided it in half, placed it in two lightly oiled containers, covered each container with a lid and retarded them overnight in the refrigerator.  The following day I brought the dough to room temperature, shaped it and placed each of the loaves into the cloth bannetons for final proof.  The photos pick up at final proof.  My wife, who took the photos, is my sharpest critic and she thinks it tastes great.

Best to you in your baking endeavors,

Howard

Know what you mean about your recipe list. 

Re: the bottom of the loaves.  I always bake my loaves on/in heavy duty (thick guage metal) pans lined with parchment and generously dusted with semolina.  If you look at the oven photo you'll see the pans are sitting on a stone that covers the entire surface of the oven rack.   I purchased 2 large square, 3/8 inch thick, pizza stones and had one of them cut to fit snug against the other stone to cover the entire area of the oven rack.  Home Depot, here in St. Augustine, FL, has a water saw they use for cutting ceramic tile and I marked my pizza  stone  where I wanted the cut made and had them make the cut.  As I recall they charged me $1.00 U.S. per cut.  Only needed one cut. 

To answer your question, there's semolina on the parchment where the loaves rest during the baking cycle.  The semolina acts as an insulator between the bottom of the loaves and the heat coming from the bottom heating coil in the oven and keeps them from burning.  It's interesting that the loose semolina on the parchment scorches but the semolina on the bottom of the loaves doesn't scorch at all.  After the loaves cool on a rack I just hold them over the sink and use a stiff brush on the bottoms of the loaves to brush off any excess semolina. 

I also have a large aluminum baking pan (permanently) placed on the bottom rack of the oven on which I keep a cast iron skillet filled with lava rocks to pour boiling water to create a nice steam blast during the first 12-15 minutes of the baking cycle.   The baking pan on the bottom, holding the cast iron skillet, also deflects some of the heat.  It's important to deflect the bottom-heat coming from those red hot heating coils, because I baked these loaves for the first 10 minutes in a 500 degree oven, then reduced the heat to 475 deg. F for the next 10 minutes.  Midway (20 minutes) into the baking cycle I turned the pans around and further reduced the heat to 450 deg. F for the final 15-20 minutes of the baking cycle, until the internal temp. of the loaves was 206-208 deg.  F.  These are large loaves weighing nearly 4 lbs each, so I rely entirely on an internal temperature reading, not timing.  It's tricky baking these large loaves to proper doneness in a home oven without burning the tops or bottoms.  That being said, the parchment lined pans generously dusted with semolina gives you a margin of safety.  I haven't experienced any bottom scorching using this method.

Hope this helps.

Howard