Ed Bechtel wrote:
>
> 1. Can you guess at either how much water you add in step 3 (a wild guess will
> do - is it a coffee cup full or two coffee cups full?)
> or guess at how much your final loaf weighs. I don't know if you have the 1.5
> lb basket or the 4 lb basket.

I'm guessing it's 2-3 cups of water and 3-5 cups of flour.
The basket is about 12" across and about 4" deep, with sloping sides.

> 2. Have you tried the recipe without Rumsford? I wonder if it helps fluf up
> your bread like a quick bread or do you do it just because?

I do it "just because". It probably isn't necessary.

Incidentally, the one thing I don't like about this bread is that it's never
very sour. Now I'm trying to get it sour. I'm letting a sponge sour past the
frothy stage, and I think I'll have to add commercial yeast to get it to rise.

-Mike