In the Interest of Full Disclosure

I made this.

It was supposed to look like this:

 

source 

The only reason I'm not just leaving this post at that is when I showed the first loaf to Hops, he said (I kid you not) "It looks great!" While sometimes slow on the uptake (it is quite possibly the ugliest loaf of bread EVER) husbands sure are awesome. His next question was when can we try it. Well, we tried it. Look at the inside. This was the best looking part of the whole loaf. At least the thinner, longer loaf didn't have any big uncooked areas in it.

 

Sigh. Look at the lower left quadrant. That's dense dough. That's gross. Do you really want to know how it tasted? It tasted about as good as it looked. Hrmph. That's a lie. It tasted OK, if you like dense bread. If you like church bread. That's really what it reminded me of. Church bread. The thinner loaf did come out a little better. Probably because it didn't have any gross dense parts in it.

I swear, I followed the instructions for the sourdough starter and for the sourdough bread that Wild Yeast posted here.

 

I was so proud of my little sourdough starter...

I don't have a couche or bannetons, but I have heart! I also have ingenuity and created the steam pan that she suggests. Something went wrong, I just don't know what yet. Perhaps my sourdough starter wasn't ....fully ready? I had been feeding it for over 7 days, it seemed ready.... Well, either way, this shows that not everything comes out perfectly. Like the post title states, I'm just giving you full disclosure into my kitchen wins and losses.I will try this bread again. And again. And again until I get it right. Maybe for now I'll go back to regular sandwich bread...