Lahey (the originator of this recipe) designed this recipe with the express desire to have a firm crust surrounding an airy crumb

That your crust is *too* hard suggests a few possible problems:

* your oven may not be calibrated quite right. Many ovens are 25 degrees hotter or cooler than the oven settings read
* you may be at a different altitude which affects the temperature at which water boils
* your flour may have settled, resulting in the measurement not being accurate (the solution is to measure by weight)
* your dutch oven might be of a different size or thickness

In other words, there are many, many things that could cause your problem.

I would try taking it out of the oven sooner, and then let it continue to bake while it cools. Don’t slice it open until it is cool because the inside dries out during the cooling process.

*Click to enlarge

Good luck with your baking.
Marianne

C’mon Christmas…! Santa’s gonna have to bring me my La Cloche and several other goodies….

thanks Gary for posting that response to my post. You are right, some of these emails that are “warnings” flying around are not always reliable.

I was going to add to my earlier post to tell everyone that I recently bought a new Pyrex dish just to check it out. The label said it was manufactured in the US, so obviously the email I received was not accurate.

Sorry for any panic that I may have caused anyone out there. I should not have been so hasty in passing that email along.
Marianne

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/pyrex.asp

Evidently, the use of the “new” glass has been going on for quite some time…. And whenever you get those “scary” e-mails, check them out…! Snopes is a good place…

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Urban Legends Reference Pages (snopes.com)

Snopes.com (pronounced /ˈsnoʊps/), officially the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is a web site that is the best-known resource for validating and debunking urban legends, Internet rumors, e-mail forwards, and other such stories of uncertain or questionable origin in American popular culture.[1] Snopes is run by Barbara and David Mikkelson, a California couple who met on the alt.folklore.urban newsgroup. The Mikkelsons also founded the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society, and were credited as the owners of the site until 2005.[2] The site is organized according to topic and includes a message board where stories and pictures of questionable veracity may be posted.

Mythbuster Gary

I have not found any ill effect from leaving dough sit too long for the initial rise. You could even put the dough in the fridge for a longer slower fermentation period.

The second rise, when the dough is shaped and left to rest on a floured towel, should never be left too long or you will get into trouble. For instance, the dough will begin to absorb the extra flour and become glued to the towel or brotform, or the dough will over-inflate and collapse when put into the oven. It’s best to anticipate a little bit of rise left in the dough to pop in the oven – what people are calling ‘oven spring’. An over-risen loaf will result in a flatter loaf in the end.

Sometimes the dough will look really wet and sticky when it is fully risen but if you put a sprinkle of flour over the top and fold it over itself a few times it will be fine. You can tell when the dough is initially mixed how wet the dough will be and that is the time to adjust by adding more flour or water. It is easier to add more flour than more water at this point BTW as adding a tiny bit of water after mixing seems to really make an impact on the dough. You will get the feel for what works for you.

I use slightly less water in the ‘plain’ dough than a dough containing chopped grains.