Quote Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl View Post
Nono, that bread look perfect texture- was it delicious?...it looks really tasty and springy.

is there a reason you did not slash it just before baking?- I find the slashing really help the loaf expand beautifully in the oven, sort of like bursting out of it's own skin. Plus the expanded slashes add a pretty visual pattern and a wonderful texture variation in the crust.
The method in this other book is a bit different. Let it rise, then when you do the second rise you wrap the dough in a towel. When you place it in the cast iron pot, you're supposed to invert it into the pot. I don't know what the difference would be if you didn't flip it over, but it was my first time with this recipe, so I wanted to follow it exactly.

My family loved it, (and being Italian, we LOVE our bread!), but I wish I had a loaf of the 5 Minute bread so I could compare side-by-side. The crumb of this bread looked a bit more textbook, but I don't know if it had more taste. The crust was perfect, you had to give it a bit of a tug between the teeth to bite a piece off. The interior was dense and moist, really nice texture. Maybe I just need a bit more salt to fit my personal taste preference. I'll certainly be trying again!