Bread Making: First Run

I am going to try to finish the post that I started (and thought I lost, but apparently not) yesterday.  As the picture included (sort of) indicates, my husband and I have decided to take up bread making.  This was a loaf of whole wheat bread that we made last week and I honestly think it turned out pretty good.  The recipe came from America's Test Kitchen's Healthy Family cookbook, which I generally love.  Some of the recipes (I am looking at you "Easy Cinnamon Rolls") really suck, which is surprising, considering that ATK tests the bejesus out of everything. The bread recipe, actually called "Rustic Boule" was generally pretty good.  I had to add quite a bit more flour to the dough than the recipe actually called for, but it rose well and baked up with a nice texture and fairly dense crumb.  (Which, in case anyone was wondering, is just how I like good bread).  We started with a "starter", which we allowed to ferment overnight.  (I could not remember if it was a "biga" or a "poolish" preparation....if my baking professor reads this, she can be properly horrified that I can not remember my baking terms correctly.)  Anyway, the starter gives it some added lift and a LOT more flavor, so we decided to keep that extra step in our prep.  (You can delete it, if you are in a hurry to make bread.  "A hurry" is defined by only being willing to wait like 6 hours instead of 24 + hours for your homemade bread.)  The next day, we made the actual dough, added the starter and put the dough in the fridge to kind of slow the rising process so that I could finish it the next day when I woke up.  (This was all done after the kids went to bed, mind you, so I didn't really want to wait up for several hours to finish the bread.)  I took the dough out the next morning, let it come to room temp, punched it down and then shaped it into a round, boule shaped loaf, and let it rise again before baking it.  The recipe called for a baking stone to be placed in the oven at 500 degrees for no longer than one hour before baking.  Once you slide the loaf onto the stone, you reduce the temperature to 425 and bake it until the internal temperature registers 210 degrees.  I tried to follow the instructions, but my pizza stone started smoking and, oddly, produced a fair amount of some kind of moisture in the center, while it was heating.  I opted to remove the smoldering, weeping stone before I caused some kind of bizarre brimstone laden fire and place the loaf in the oven on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Honestly, I think it turned out just as good as if I had done it the way the recipe was written.  Once it was finished baking, I let it cool completely and we enjoyed it for dinner that evening.  It was just the right amount of chewy with a really crisp exterior with which I was really impressed. That was good, but having leftovers for breakfast the next morning was pure bliss....I am a sucker for really good, toasted bread, spread with a little peanut or almond butter, served with some fruit and a spicy mug of Chai tea.  So, for our first go round with bread making, I think it was a success.  We are going to try our hands at rye bread sometime this week.  As a matter of fact, I need to stop writing and locate a recipe for that.  Until next time!