Rustic Loaves (Click Thumbnails to enlarge)
The dough was 1650g, about 70% hydration, making two 8" diameter loaves. Retarded one day in cold Wisconsin basement. Smaller loaves bake better in my oven and I can fit both in nicely.
Rustic Loaves
What we have here are white loaves. 80% Dakota Maid bread flour (same as KA bread flour) and 20% white whole wheat pastry flour that I mill myself. My wheat breads are 100% whole grain, usually 65% wheat, 20% rye and balance spelt or kamut.
Crust view.
As you can see I proof in baskets. No oven spritzing. The spring is managed with slashing to expose moist "expansion joints". I think steam is superfluous for this shape. Save that effort for longer, narrower shapes (batards, baguettes) where slashing does not release the spring energy as efficiently.
Sliced Loaf
The dough is well mixed but not well kneaded. I think Dan Wing re: The Bread Builders, was right recommending the use of softer flours. The flavor is impressive and crumb seems well developed and glossy.
Keep Records!
I have found Samartha Deva's dough building calculator extremely useful. It has moved me from ad hoc baking to formulaic compliance without pain. And, it's easy to screen capture the computed ratios for record keeping. http://samartha.net/SD/SDcalcPar.html