This was what my husband’s bread looked like before he put it in the pan to let it rise. His bread had a brick-like quality after he baked it. He thinks maybe it didn’t turn out because he forgot to put all of ingredients in and had to backtrack. It looks kind of like a potato with seeds, doesn’t it?

All bread recipes call for covering the resting dough with plastic and then putting a kitchen towel over the top of that. I don’t know if the kitchen towel really makes all that much difference, but it sure gives it that homemade feeling.