I went to the neighbor’s to bake again. This time it was easier. I did no bench work there, just heated the combo cooker and dumped the loaf from the towel into the bottom part of the combo cooker (I need smaller baskets that represent the size I am working with). I scored them and baked them again, this time everything went more smoothly. The resulting loaves did not open nor rise as I thought they should have. Upon reflection, I probably used the leaven before it was truly ready, since the other part that I preserved as my starter went on to double even after I extracted half of it.

The bread still tasted great and the texture was good, though not great. Next time, I will wait a bit longer with the leaven before starting.

As can be seen from the sliced open picture, the texture is still filled with holes, as I wanted, but the arrangement is not quite what I had before. I don’t yet have enough experience with this technique and the various flour types to know if this is normal for what I made or not.