Help with bread making please!

[TPeacock]

Attempts at making sourdough bread, following the recipes from Bruce's Daily Bread have not been 100% successful.

While the bread is well-risen, the crusts are extremely hard. I tried a putting a pan of water in the oven to add moisture, but this didn't seem to work.

Any tips appreciated!

[Bruce Paine]

Captain Peacock,

Have you tried spraying the bread with water while it is baking?

Of course the crust should not be hard right after the loaf has come out of the oven.

The bread, being 100% whole wheat, is going to be denser and heavier than those gourmet sourdough loaves that are being baked now-a-days.

Have you got a 9"+ serrated blade knife to cut the bread with.

Cut the slices of bread thin and enjoy a couple with your meal.

The bread, if baked properly, will harden as time passes but a little steaming will soften it right up.

For more information on baking natural leavened bread, please visit the links at "the fall and RISE of our DAILY BREAD" ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thefal...ourDAILYBREAD/ ).

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine