I found this recipe about a week and a half ago, maybe two weeks. I was so excited! I love to make homemade bread, but had gotten away from it and had been thinking of looking for something quick, easy, and delicious. When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. I read through some comments, saw one about trying to substitute some whole wheat flour for the all-purpose, and decided to do that too. (We're trying to get more whole grains into our diet.) I decided to shoot for a half and half mixture of flours, adding in the extra water that was in the comment response...I knew it would change the texture of the dough, but wanted to see how it went. After waiting the required time, I put my loaves into the oven. Oh how wonderful to have the smell of fresh bread baking in the house again! It was SO hard to wait the 30 minutes or so! When the bread came out of the oven it was a gorgeous dark brown, and you could feel the crustiness when you picked it up. However, when it was time to eat, it had lost most of that good chewy crust, and the inside of the bread itself was heavy. Don't get me wrong, the taste was there, it was the texture I was missing. I called the hotline and talked with a lady there who pointed out that I probably shouldn't have replaced half the a-p flour with white whole wheat. I knew she was right, but still....so disappointed. Yet, I'd mixed the whole batch, and still had 2/3 of it sitting in my fridge! I couldn't bring myself to bake the rest, feeling like I'd "failed". So it sat there for a week and a half. Today I was cleaning out my leftovers and pulled out the bowl of dough, debating whether to throw it away or bake it. It DID taste good, so I decided to bake it. This time, instead of the round loaves, I pulled off smaller pieces and just make dinner sized rolls. I followed the same technique, and into the oven they went. What came out was....just FANTASTIC! I have NEVER made bread so good. I don't know what changed...whether it was letting it sit so long in the fridge, making smaller rolls, or what, but THIS was the crusty, chewy, awesome bread I had been looking for the first time. And the dark, caramel colored parts were the best of all...full of a yummy goodness I've never achieved at home. THANK YOU for this recipe. I'm encouraged to try it again (with all a-p flour this time!). Even my 7 yr old picky eater is exclaiming over how good this bread is! What a great baking adventure. Thanks for sharing your experience, it will help us all learn! ~ MJ

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