Far from the prettiest but I was quite proud.

your ancestors would be proud, I feel like everyone should bake at least one loaf in their lives just as a connection to our past (and one of our favorite foods)

may your dough always rise and your loaves taste great!

I'd recommend letting the next loaf rise for maybe double the time as this loaf. General rule is you want the shaped dough to expand to 3x its size before baking.

the first one is free

congrats feels good

Looks tasty if a little dense. I'm proud of you and I bet your next loaf will be even better!

Nice job.

The crumb looks a little dense to me. I'm guessing due to shaping issues. Did you do this freeform or did you use a loaf pan? Loaf pan is generally preferable for beginners because the pan provides a lot of support. With freeform loaves if it's not shaped correctly it will often collapse. Generally when you're shaping you want two things: internal structure, and a tightly stretched skin over the top. I think a lot of beginner recipes don't teach this very well, since I often see first loaves that look like they were assembled into a shape but not really using proper techniques.

If you want to get into it, the only advice is to make a lot of bread. It's a simple dish so experimenting is very satisfying.

If it's just a one time thing, congrats too!

Good work! Looks amazing

Man it took me way too long to see this photo correctly. I was like "did he cut a peice off of the top and then put a blunt on it? What am I even looking at?

I'm barely a year into my bread obsession. It's one of the only obsessions my wife has ever fully supported.

In addition to a dutch oven, as others said, I recommend picking up some diastatic malt powder. Add 1-5% of your flour content to a loaf.

It really helps develop a nice crispy crust and adds a ton of flavor.