Lisa - I wonder if our books are different versions? I could have sworn that my recipe says that the basic boule makes three loaves, not four. I'll have to look again when I get home tonight. If so, that would be REALLY odd, don't you think?

I don't wash my peel. I just wipe it clean and so far, with enough corn meal, it's fine. Same for the stone - which is actually a pizza stone and it also works great. I'd love to get a long square one so that I can make different shaped loaves, but so far the round has kept me busy enough. What benefit does the parchement serve? Do you still use cornmeal with it?

Oh, and ZenSojo - before I got my peel, I was just using a cookie sheet with no lip. Worked like a charm! I got the peel just because it's hard to make cookies when your cookie sheet always has a new loaf of bread sitting on it!