Tips for French Bread, Please

Brand new to baking breads so I thought I'd ease into it.  Found Galley Wench's no-knead yes-beer recipe #309834 @ food.com for starters and the dough behaved as described.

Recipe [Exact ingredients, paraphrased instructions]:  1.5c lager, 1.5c water, 1TBS white vinegar, 1.5TBS instant yeast (I sub active dry and bloomed it in 1/2c of the original 1.5c water), 1TBS Salt, 29.25oz (1# 13.25' ) unbleached AP.  Mix dry first then add all wet all at once to incorporate.  Cover loosely rest 2-5 hrs room temp.  If not baking now, refrigerate overnite up to 10 days.  Baking stone on bottom rack (I sub quarry tiles), steam gizmo (a pan holding water) above the bread.

Brought the dough out this morning, cut & shaped it, and let it rest 1h15m per further instructions.

Meanwhile I preheated oven to 450 for 20 min AFTER reaching temp, with clean dry quarry tile lining the rack at bottom position.

Transferred shaped/rested dough to a pizza peel dusted with pulverized pasta, then slid 'em into the "at home brick oven" so to speak.  Positioned loaves [2 (1#) boules in the rear, 2 (1/2#) long rolls middle, and 1 (1/4#) bun roll at front] thinking I'd have to take out the smaller ones first.  Sprayed, steamed & let them bake at the same 450 per instructions.  

After 10-15 I smell an acrid burning that appears to be the dusting/pasta powder.  Careful not to disturb the bread, I brush some away & out of oven.  

Another 5 or so, more of the same smell. more intense this time.  I knew what was up.  Just not sure why.  Sure enough the bottoms are already scorched.  Recipe said to bake at 450 for 30-35.  :(

My questions:

1. Might the result have changed with Corn Meal on the peel rather than pasta powder?
2. Should the rack seriously be on the bottom position?
3. Should I be turning the heat down after the crust is solid?
4. How to judge differing baking times for the different sizes?
5. "Should sound hollow when tapped; crackle & sing @ room temp air":  They all give a dull thud (not sure I'd call it "hollow") but the bun was perfect texture inside.  Haven't cracked into the others yet.    Didn't hear any crackling :(

Any insight will be greatly appreciated!  This dad needs to redeem himself in his bread-addicted son's eyes.

Regards,

Steve

Thanks for your reply, tasquah.

Can't take credit for the additions to my oven.  They actually come from The Grande Dame, Julia Child's TFC episode on French Bread, which I believe is also where I got the idea for pulverized pasta -- for use when you can't make it out to the store to get more corn meal that somebody used up without putting it on the grocery list... ;) Bad on me for not pulling everything together before starting.  But I don't remember for sure where I got that.  Won't be using it again though.  Thinking about it, egg, flour & water... of course it burns in such small particles!  Pasta is designed for wet cooking anyway.  Not sure why I din't question that one from the get-go.  Anyway,

Great tips, covering the vent.  Will try that and uncover it a bit before opening the door... smoke detector is very sensitive, even to steam. :( and checking the temp.  I have a remote with probe, just don't want to go poking holes in every loaf since they're different sizes, y'know?

I'll try again, moving the rack up a notch or two, then using the two stage temperature that you suggest.

Good luck with your studies, maybe after the kids are grown I'll find myself at least taking some courses... I have both Boston and Providence local to me, and many choices for culinary programs.

Again, many thanks.  Any experience is more than I have as far as hands-on, so thank you.

Steve

BDL, thanks for your reply as well.  As stated in my post, I recognize that it burned the pasta initially, and as in my reply to tasquah, came to the realization that the idea itself was flawed.  The subsequent scorching was the entire bottoms of the loaves, travelling up about a quarter-inch the sides of the loaves.  I had used the pasta as an emergency substitute for the corn meal.  Not sure where, but I definitely heard of doing that.  Someone had emptied the container without replacing it.  Again, I say, bad on me for not putting everything together before starting.  

Question: wouldn't the dough, after shaping and the final rest, stick even to parchment without a lube of sorts?  and if you mean to put the bread in while on the parchment, wouldn't the parchment burn at such high temp for that duration?  I've certainly singed the edges of parchment before.  

As far as French or Not French, I do understand this recipe is not truly (well, not at all,) French in classical terms.  This project *started* as trying to replicate Julia Child's recipe and technique.  I botched the dough twice (I think the yeast died during the final rest) and with a total of up to 10 hours of rising/resting in 3 separate times, By that time, I had committed to serving up my home-made quahog chowder in home-made boules.  Ingredients were purchased and the menu was set in stone.  I figured I'd give the mix-rest-knead-rise-shape-rise-shape-rest-bake traditional two-day-production style a bit of a break, committing to try again after I'd actually successfully baked a loaf or two in something other than a bread machine.  

My apologies for the misleading headline.  I was thinking "French looking & feeling" [Boules, baguettes & batardes] or "French texture/crust&crumb" rather than "French Technique".  Definitely not classically trained here.  Actually not trained at all hands on.  Just trying to replicate what I see on tv/dvd's.  Sort of online learning without paying tuition, I guess.  Some day I will be.  No reason not to be with both Boston and Providence within an easy daily commute.  For now, and until the kids are grown and out of the house, I just enjoy trying things out & feeding my family well.  No McD or packaged foods here.  I'm a recipe cook at the outset, venturing & modifying once I've satisfied myself that I can at least make it as intended.  By no means a Chef in that sense.

Thanks again,

Steve

Thank you Colin, In hindsight I should not have left them in that extra 5+-, or at least turned the oven off and leave it cracked open.  Or take a temp.  Once I've done this a few times it should become automatic.  Thanks everybody for your responses.  Mixing up 2nd batch today.

Thanks again BDL,

Based on your description of overbaked crust, I think that is what happened.  Just barely though, the crumb was what I had hoped for.  Looks like a combination of that and the pulverized pasta.  My plan for the next batch:  (2) loaves.  one with parchment, the other corn meal,  Once the crust is formed, temp probe in the smaller loaf (keeping them about the same size).  Move rack up one notch from bottom.  How did you know about my headbanging? :)  

Should I be lowering temp after the <crust forming> stage?

Also, why would it be taking (20 minutes and counting) for the active dry yeast to foam?  I have 2 batches going (one from a jar, the other from packets -- well under their expiration) as a failsafe, and both doing the same thing.  Water temp was 107, yeast was room temp.  Has foamed fine in recent past when I was making Syrian (Pita) bread.  nice 1" cap on the top of the cup.  Barely a foam today.  Room temp 68.  Could it be the absence of sugar in this recipe? <that's it, isn't it?  banging head again>

Regards,

Steve

And the verdict is in... it *was* a combination of cooking time and the pasta.  (2) 1# Boules on quarry tile, one position up from bottom, one using corn meal on the pizza peel, the other using parchment.  450 preheated 20 min @ reaching temp.  temp verified with another thermometer.  Both cooked evenly and to the same doneness other than the corn meal one was darker on the bottom (expected).  Misted bread, tiles & sides of oven w/spray water @ start, 2, 4 & 6 minutes. (steam) Crust was hard enough to support temp probe  @ 10 min, reached 207 @ 15 min.  Oven off,  & cracked open.  leave it in for another 5 then cool on rack.

Thanks for all your help,

Steve

Didn't realize I could post photos, guess I would have if I was more observant.

The above are my first run, the 1/2 lb. hoagies/loaves; note darkening running on bottom, up sides.  Bun & Boules were YUM!

Lessons learned: Pulverized pasta is *NOT* a good substitute for corn meal at 450F; Always temp your bread!

                            Stay OFF the bottom rack.

Second run: move rack up, cut time back.

Lessons learned: This particular recipe is a little bit tastier (and the dough less sticky) when dough is left to refrig overnight.

                            Look in the OTHER cabinet, Dear Wife may just have put the corn meal way in back of the wrong cabinet <grrrr>

Lesson to learn:  to better shape boule so it doesn't spread as much.  No worries.  I have plenty more flour and yeast.

                           practice, hungry family & friends make perfect!

Something to try... boeuf bourguignon in boule ?  Will have to think on that one a bit.  

                            Julia's (from MTAoFC) BB is *fantastic* using Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages [2010]

                            Even my ultra-fussy 10.5 son and daughter literally lick their plates.  I usually add

                            fingerling potatoes for a starch, but may drop them if I use the bread.

Best regards and thanks everybody!

Steve