In a World of My Own: Breads: The Italian Loaf

This time I decided I wanted to make an old world time of bread. Like the loaves people carry when they walk home from the European bakeries. I found this recipe for Italian loaves in Better Homes and Gardens Complete Step-By-Step Cook Book and I decided that was the recipe I was going to try.It was published in 1978. Slightly outdated since it is 2014, but baking hasn't changed that much. This was the result.

They were beautiful, so I definitely felt I was doing something right.
Here is the recipe directly from the book.

There is one change I made. I had a container of active dry yeast not packages. So 2 packages of active dry yeast is equal to 4 and 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast. I discovered this thanks to a little research on the web.
With all the problems I had with yeast and temperature, I have discovered that you can usually tell if the yeast is work if the dough sticks to something but comes off cleanly (this is after all the flour has been added, even if it is slightly sticky, it will come off cleanly).
As you can see from the recipe there are a couple of ways you can fashion this recipe. I just followed the top of half of the recipe. It is nice and simple.